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Chapter 58
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
The Hat Creek Company makes it to Fort Worth without incident, and Call allows the hands—but not Newt, or the Rainey and Spettle boys—to go into town. They won’t be within striking distance of civilization again until Nebraska and Call knows all too well that some of them might not make it that far. Dish stays behind. He’s still in love with Lorena and doesn’t want to miss her return, even though the other hands tease him.
Like Gus, Call knows all too well that life can be brief and unpredictable, so he allows the older hands their pleasures—drinking, gambling, and the company of women. He still protects the younger members of the crew—acting as a stern father not just to Newt, but also to the boys of families to whom he feels responsible. Despite her ongoing and clear disinterest in him, Dish continues to stoke the fire of his love for Lorena, showing flashes of a determination as strong as Gus’s and Call’s.
Themes
Augustus has been gone for over a week and everyone is more and more worried. Po Campo doesn’t think his chances are good. He knows about Blue Duck—the outlaw killed his three sons—and says that Gus would need a better horse, one of the Hell Bitch’s caliber, to catch the outlaw, who always gets away because he has the best horse. Call knows that Gus is one of the most capable men around, but the longer he’s gone, the harder it is for him to put the thought of Gus’s death out of his head. This bothers him both because he misses Gus’s input—despite his irritating natter—and because he has a nagging feeling of unfinished business, like he and Gus didn’t get things square between them before Gus left. Sometimes, he fantasizes about abandoning the herd and searching for his friend instead.
Gus’s continuing absence bothers and worries Call because he’s upset by the idea of losing his best friend. Yet, he can’t fully admit this to himself (much less to anyone else). The sensation of having unfinished business is thus twofold: on the one hand, it refers to his and Gus’s eternal argument about his refusal to acknowledge Newt as his son. But it also mirrors his permanently unfinished business with Maggie. Part of the reason he still feels so guilty and upset over her death is that he never admitted to himself that he needed—and perhaps even loved—her. Similarly, he tries to tell himself he misses Gus’s tactical abilities when it’s clear that he admires Gus and needs his friendship for the meaning it gives his own life.
Themes
The cowhands return from Fort Worth cranky and hungover. They report that they ran into Jake gambling in one of the saloons. He wasn’t friendly to them. And he had a new girl “hanging all over him.”
Any suspicions readers may have harbored about Jake’s inconstancy and selfishness are borne out in the cowhands’ report. He’s proved himself unworthy of the love he wants to have from Lorena and his former friends and partners.
Themes
