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Chapter 59
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
After Fort Worth, the company drives the herd through two days of rain before they get to the Red River. This sends everyone’s mood very low. Dish likes talking to Newt, the only one who doesn’t make fun of his feelings for Lorena. Although it pains Newt to hear Dish complain about Jake, he must admit to himself that Jake hasn’t proven himself to be the hero of Newt’s childhood.
The Red River marks the boundary between Texas and Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and thus constitutes a turning point for the drive. They're now leaving established territory for the dangers of the frontier. Newt hasn’t completely lost his youthful adoration for Jake, but he’s starting to question Jake’s actions—in other words, he’s starting seriously on the work of deciding the kind of person that he himself wants to be—including whose examples he wants to follow or avoid.
Themes
The company’s anxiety rises as they approach the Red River, which is well-known for drowning cowboys. Dish has crossed it on a few drives, and it hasn’t been a fun experience. But Deets doggedly tests out the banks and ultimately finds an easy crossing on a gravel bar. As the herd starts across, the sun breaks through the rain clouds. That night, Allen O’Brien and Po Campo both sing for hours. The men’s songs—in Irish and Spanish, respectively—always sound sad. Po Campo explains that although he is happy, his songs are sad because life itself is sad.
At first, it seems like Po Campo might have a jaded view of life. But on the whole, he seems to fall more in Gus’s camp. Although life itself may be sad, Po Campo knows well how to find—and give others—pleasure in little things like the beauty of the world or the comfort of a sweet treat. Even when things go well, like the crossing, they are still difficult and dangerous.
Themes
Call habitually makes his camp a little apart from the rest. One night, the sound of his own voice surprises him as he complains that Gus shouldn’t have encouraged Jake and that he should have shot Blue Duck when he had the chance. Luckly, no one but the Hell Bitch hears him talking to himself.
Call’s tendency to distance himself from the others mirrors his desire to prove to the others (and mostly to himself) that he doesn’t need anyone. But he does need others, of course, and he realizes this when he catches himself in the act of wishing for Gus to come back quickly.
Themes
