Both Lu and Georgie undergo significant personal growth in their respective character arcs throughout Dirt Music. Their emotional maturation ultimately allows them to come together at the end of the novel—in sharp contrast to the tragic ending of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. While their challenges have different origins, both issues have halted each character’s growth and emotional development, leaving them stuck in their circumstances, and unable to move forward.

Luther Fox, a member of the “cursed” Fox family, was once in a family band and full of life. However, he was involved in a tragic car accident that killed his remaining relatives. He alone survives, and he lives on the outskirts of White Point, effectively banished from town because of his family name and history of tragedy. Meeting Georgie initially pulls Lu out of his emotional emptiness, but this positive moment is met with more consequences and more loss. This is partially because these two characters are meeting in the right place at the wrong time—neither are in the position to have a relationship and both have baggage to confront and heal from.

In the face of compounding losses, Lu flees. Alone again, Lu searches for a way to live beyond grief in isolation.