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Chapter 2
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
It’s awfully hot in Lonesome Dove, but then it’s been hot every place Lorena Wood has ever lived—that’s why she wants to go to cool and beautiful San Francisco. She doesn’t let the fact that she’s only gotten as far as Texas let her down. Born in Alabama, by the time she was 17, she’d been orphaned. A man named Mosby, who claimed that he was a gentleman but turned out to be a drunken and dissolute gambler, lured her from Baton Rouge to Gladewater, Texas, promising to marry her. He didn’t, and then he started letting his gambling buddies have sex with her to settle his debts. Then he started hiring her out to strangers. That’s how she met John Tinkersley, a mediocre gambler who brought her to San Antonio and then to Lonesome Dove, where he abandoned her after stealing her meager savings.
Lorena’s sad history illustrates how vulnerable women—especially those without money or the protection of a family—could be in this era. Both Mosby and Tinkersley treat her like their personal property when they profit by allowing their friends—and ultimately, strangers—to buy sexual access to Lorena. Still, despite the hardships she has faced, it’s clear that she hasn’t given in to sadness. And although she’s delt with some unsavory men, she’s thus far lived to tell the tale, suggesting an inner strength.
Themes
Augustus McCrae is Lorena’s most loyal customer, and although she knows better than to trust men, she appreciates his character. He’s one of the few men she will talk to—and then only sometimes. Usually, this doesn’t bother Augustus, who’s happy to do more than his share of the talking. But one day, he walked into her room and tried to pay her $10 for conversation—specifically her life story. After a moment’s hesitation, Lorena decided she preferred her privacy to the money, so she rebuttoned her dress and handed the gold coin back to Gus, who took her refusal in stride.
There’s certainly a tension between Gus’s interest in Lorena as a human being and his ability to exert control over her through money. Still, she’s comfortable enough turning him down to suggest either that she doesn’t worry about alienating him or that she is confident in her ability to take care of herself even without his ongoing business. Gus’s curiosity—and Lorena’s comfort—suggests that it’s possible for a friendship to form between the two.
Themes
