Previous
Chapter 42
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
Back in Arkansas, Roscoe falls in with a small group of soldiers heading for Buffalo Springs, Texas. They share their whiskey bottle with Roscoe, who becomes so drunk that he makes himself very ill. They take him as far as the Red River before they part ways. Soon afterward, Roscoe runs into a grizzled man named Old Sam, who is skinning a possum. Old Sam asks Roscoe for a drink, and Roscoe hands over his bottle of whiskey. But Old Sam doesn’t return the favor by inviting Roscoe to dinner with himself and a girl (later identified as Janey) whom Roscoe sees standing in the doorway of Old Sam’s cabin.
Roscoe’s odyssey continues to showcase the man’s bumbling and hapless nature. He’s barely capable of finding his way even though there’s a well-marked and frequently traveled trail between Fort Smith, Arkansas and Fort Worth Texas. Luckily for him, he stumbles on Old Sam and Janey not long after he crosses over into Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).
Themes
Roscoe rolls out his blanket, eats his last two biscuits, and tries to fall asleep, but the sound of Old Sam beating and abusing Janey keeps him up. Early the next morning, he mounts his horse and gets underway again. About six miles down the road, he has the misfortune to run into a wasp’s nest. Soon after he outruns the wasps, Janey emerges cautiously from the undergrowth. She introduces herself and tells him a sad story: she grew up in Texas. After her family died, she lived with a Dutchman, then someone called Bill who sold her to Old Sam for 40 skunk pelts. She promises to help Roscoe find his way to San Antonio and to catch varmints for their meals along the way. Roscoe isn’t sure it’s wise or safe to harbor a runaway, but he feels bad for Janey and needs her help.
The fact that Old Sam has not only enslaved but also abuses Janey distresses Roscoe, though he’s too hapless to do anything about it. Notably, all the female characters introduced thus far have been orphaned or abandoned, leading them directly into sex work or enslavement. Yet despite this, Janey has reserves of strength and ingenuity to draw upon and when she sees an opportunity to escape, she takes it. Clearly, she’s savvier and more skilled at survival than Roscoe is even though she’s just a child. This meeting was lucky for both: it gave Janey a chance to escape and Roscoe a prayer of reaching Texas in one piece.
Themes
