How does the author use nature to create a sense of hope in the novel, Ain’t Burned All the Bright?

The grass is one of the only living components of nature in the novel. Most of the other references and illustrations, excluding the flower, are dead. In reintroducing grass at the close of the novel, the author symbolizes the presence of hope and new life as the day comes to a close and the characters have managed to relax slightly. The panic of the earlier pages seems to dissipate and they begin to look to the future with renewed optimism.