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Chapter 12
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
Dark-haired, coffee-eyed Jake Spoon is unlike any other man Lorena has ever met. He is perfectly at ease in the presence of a sex worker, unlike most men. When he sits down, he remarks that she’s pretty enough to be a fine San Francisco lady. The fact that he seems to know exactly where she wants to be takes her breath away. She pours out her heart to Jake immediately, telling him her life story while he listens sympathetically.
The story steps back in time now to the previous afternoon when Lorena first met Jake. He’s easily the most charming man she’s ever met, as evidenced by the fact that she immediately tells him the story she earlier denied to Gus—whom she knows better. But charm doesn’t make a person trustworthy, unfortunately, and readers have already seen some of Jake’s character flaws. His ability to hide them from Lorena makes her vulnerable.
Themes
Afterwards, Jake tells Lorena about killing the dentist in Arkansas. He solemnly promises that although he’s a wanted man, he will do everything in his power to help her get to San Francisco. She invites him upstairs. He limps—the result, he says, of an old injury that tends to swell when he works too hard. She nurses it for him. Then he brings up a tub and water for a bath. While he’s soaking, he invites her to trim his hair, and she agrees. Afterwards, he takes her to bed. She refuses his money, afraid of endangering his emotional investment. When he comments about how worn-out her clothes are, she feels bad and resolves to make herself more attractive for him. Once she’s naked, Jake takes his time admiring her. She, in turn, notices how clean and soft and well-groomed his hands—and all his other parts—are.
Lorena’s stated goal is to reach San Francisco, but it’s clear here that what she really needs is to find someone who will take care of her. Unfortunately, it’s equally clear that that person isn’t Jake, who easily manipulates her into servicing him—not just giving him sex for free, but also saving him the cost of a barber. Readers—privy to the way he similarly seduced Maggie and then abandoned her, breaking her heart—know more than Lorena, contributing to a heavy sense of foreboding. However, she does see—even if she ignores—important insights provided by his attention to superficial appearances and the lack of evidence of hard work on his body. He’s left his friends at Hat Creek to do the hard work for him.
Themes
After they’ve made love, Lorena lies beside Jake while he sleeps, and when he wakes, he tells her sweet stories about San Francisco. They make love again. When he finally gets dressed and suggests that they go downstairs, Lorena feels happier—and closer to San Francisco—than she has in years. Then, when Jake leaves to go on the raid, she becomes unbearably impatient for him to return. And just like that, she’s become Jake’s lover, and her days of serving as Lonesome Dove’s sex worker have ended.
Effortlessly, Jake has gotten Lorena to fall for him and to take care of him. Earlier, he thought about how helpful it would be to have Call, Gus, and the others for protection if (or when) July Johnson tracks him down. Readers can see what Lorena cannot (at least not yet): Jake cares only about himself, his needs, and his comforts, and he’ll sacrifice anyone and anything for them.
Themes
