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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lonesome Dove, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
American Mythology
Family
Luck, Fate, and Chance
The Good Life
The Meaning of Masculinity
Feminine Strength
Summary
Analysis
Augustus, Call, Jake, Pea Eye, Deets, Dish, and Newt ride south into Mexico. Newt soaks everything in. As they ride, they come upon a herd of longhorn cattle—normally a good prize. But they’re on the hunt for horses. Call regularly consults with Deets—who somehow knows exactly where they are at all times—to make sure they’re giving Pedro Flores’s cow camps a wide berth. After a while, Dish rides off most of his hangover and Newt rides off most of his nerves.
Call refuses to be turned aside from his mission for anything—even something equally (or possibly) more valuable on its face than the horses he’s going for. Earlier, Deets’s inclusion on the sign spoke to his value in the outfit, and now readers see just how heavily Call trusts and relies on him. That being said, it’s possible to see echoes of the “Magical African American” trope in Deets. This trope assigns Black characters with special (often mystical) abilities to support the white protagonists of a story.
Themes
The closer they get to the hacienda, the more serious they become—except for Jake (who wants people to think he’s fearless) and Gus (who actually is). Most fearless men Call has known had a death wish. But not Augustus, whose cockiness arises from his “general vanity.” In a pinch, he’s reliable, but most of the time Call prefers the input of Deets, another careful planner like himself.
This chapter switches between Newt’s perspective and Call’s. Newt, looking for a father and trying to determine what kind of person he’ll grow up to be, might not be able to distinguish between Jake’s faux bravery and Gus’s real valor, but Call can—and does. This suggests that to a fully realized person, a person’s inner character counts for more than their outer actions.
Themes
Call decides to split the group, sending Jake, Pea Eye, Dish, and Augustus to round up the horses. He and Deets—and Newt, who he forgot about—will deal with Flores’s men. It would be better to reassign Newt to the safer team, but Call can’t bear to admit he made a mistake. As Call, Deets, and Newt ride on, Deets hears white people singing somewhere nearby. Cautiously, they ride forward to investigate.
This moment provides further insight into Call’s character. Once he’s settled on a plan and given orders, he cannot bear to contradict himself by changing his mind. He can’t admit the possibility that he might have made a mistake—a quality that he thinks of as noble, but which seems dangerous in this context.
Themes
In the abandoned remains of one of Pedro Flores’s old cattle camps, they find two Irishmen singing by a small campfire. A mule and a donkey—both hobbled for the night—stand nearby. Call, Deets, and Newt and Deets surround them. Newt feels afraid, but he follows the Captain’s orders. When Call calmly steps into the light of the campfire, the younger man springs on the mule to make an escape, but the hobbled creature just falls over. Call makes it clear they mean no harm, and the Irishmen introduce themselves as Allen and Sean O’Brien. They’re lost—they are trying to find Galveston.
Hobbling means tying short lengths of rope or cord between an animal’s legs so that it cannot take a full stride and thus escape. Other than securing their animals, Allen and Sean seem incredibly clueless and unprepared for the barely tamed world in which they’ve found themselves. Unluckily, they’ve gotten very lost. But luckily, the very kind of man they need—a Captain to tell them what to do—shows up to rescue them.
Themes
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These hapless men are a kink in Call’s plan, but he feels responsible for them. He tells Allen and Sean to pack (although they have nothing but an empty whiskey bottle) and promises to send one of his men—with fresh horses—to escort them to safety. Then he, Newt, and Deets remount their horses and ride off to join the others.
Call further shows what kind of a person he is by deciding to protect these men even though it inconveniences him—not everything about his temperament is problematic. His concern for others is quite noble.
Themes
