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Chapter 30
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
By sunset, the impending storm is making its presence known. The wind has picked up, and the dust it picks up is already obscuring the sun. Augustus and Call are anxious about the storm, but they can’t do anything to stop it. Call sends Newt to warn Dish and Soupy. Dish takes the news calmly, like the experienced professional cowboy he is. Newt tries—unsuccessfully—to mimic Dish’s casual attitude. Newt doesn’t have time to get back to the relative safety of the wagon before the storm hits the herd.
The storm, like so many things in life, cannot be avoided. It must be faced and endured. Gus and Call may have slightly different approaches to this essential truth, but they both acknowledge it. and it is the foundation of the book’s exploration of the good life. Newt, never having experienced much change at all in his life, is nervous about the impending test, but he vows to face it with equanimity, just like the men he looks up to.
Themes
Panicked by their sudden blindness, the herd breaks into a run, sweeping Newt and his horse, Mouse, along with them. Newt can’t see and can only trust Mouse to carry him safely through whatever obstacles there might be. Fortunately, the thick mesquite brush soon slows the cattle’s headlong rush. But then the lightning starts up, and soon St. Elmo’s fire is crackling on the steers’ long horns. Dish, fortunately nearby, warns Newt not to get too close lest he get shocked. Then the rain begins to fall in torrents, turning the ground into swirling mud. At one point, Mouse loses his footing and nearly falls into a gully. Eventually the storm ends, but the night doesn’t. Newt anxiously awaits dawn.
The storm turns out to be just about as bad as Newt feared, but in the end, he (and the animals) survives it. As with the raid into Mexico, Newt is learning that he can endure even difficult and terrifying things—it’s just a matter of trying to keep himself calm and waiting things out. St. Elmo’s fire is a weather phenomenon in which charged ions clustered around certain types of objects (airplane wings, sailboat masts, or, as in this case, cattle horns) glow visibly.
Themes
