Running Away

Throughout the novel, Billie Jo talks of leaving Oklahoma and moving out west. The following lines talk of her reasoning to leave on her on.

"I am filled with bitterness...it comes from the absence of Ma. I could've loved her better. She could've loved me, too...I have given my father so many chances to understand, to reach out, to love. He once did...Now there's nothing easy between us. Sometimes he comes notice of me...But mostly I'm invisible. Mostly I'm alone...I know what he's up to. He's rotting away, like his father, ready to leave me behind in the dust. Well, I'm leaving first." Summer 1935 Pages195-196

The text shows that Billie Jo has hit "rock bottom" and she really is going to leave instead of being left behind. Her thinking is that she would rather leave first than be left behind by her father. It would hurt more to be left behind than it would be to leave first for Billie Jo.