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Chapter 31
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
Because Jake forgot to hobble the horses, Lorena’s mare escapes when the lightning and thunder start. Lorena, who has always feared lightning, is beside herself with terror. She wishes she’d never left Lonesome Dove. As the lightning strikes come closer and closer, Jake realizes they can’t stay where they are, at the foot of a tall tree. Despite her attempts to resist, he drags her away and down to the shelter of the riverbank. Lightning strikes the tree under which they made their first camp. Good thing Deets warned them, Jake says. But, Lorena remembers, Jake hadn’t had the courtesy to thank Deets at the time.
The storm, which ends up being uncomfortable but bearable for Newt. is intolerable for Lorena. And Jake’s inattentiveness increases whatever havoc the weather would have caused them anyway. This is the first real test of Lorena’s resolve, and although she resists Jake’s attempts to drag her from under the tree, in the end she complies and survives. And it’s a mark of her own conscientious nature that even in the midst of her terror she doesn’t forget Deets’s kindness—a kindness that Jake takes for granted.
Themes
