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Chapter 82
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
As the cattle train gets closer and closer to Ogallala, all the cowpokes can talk about is visiting sex workers. Newt, Jimmy Rainey, and Ben Rainey are curious, but Po Campo tells them—and anyone else who will listen—that it’s better to spend their money on the barber. A haircut will last longer and won’t give them a disease.
As usual, Po Campo has a vastly different perspective on life than anyone else. But it’s clear that no one—especially the younger boys—will listen to him. The allure of women’s company is just too strong to turn away from, even if it means chancing disease.
Themes
The farther north they go, the more depressed Deets becomes, and this worries Call. When he tries to talk to his trusted scout, all Deets says is that the northern light is “too thin.” One morning, Call asks Gus’s opinion on the matter. Gus suggests that maybe Deets knows something they don’t, and they’ll be ambushed by Sioux warriors before the get to Ogallala.
Deets’s growing sadness begins to burden Call, and the repeated references to his distress over being so far from home start to insinuate that he fears—or knows—something bad is going to happen to him. Gus trusts Deets’s intuition, and this far north, the possibility of an attack by Indigenous warriors isn’t at all out of the question.
Themes
The closer they get to Ogallala, the more worried Lorena becomes, even though Augustus assures her that he will take her with him to visit Clara. He feels melancholy about his situation: Lorie loves him, and while he’s fond of her, he also yearns for freedom. And he still loves Clara. He consults Deets, asking if Deets has ever wanted something he knew he couldn’t have. Deets says yes: he wishes he were home in Lonesome Dove. But he can’t have that.
Gus knows Lorena needs him, but he also knows his own heart. The idea of Clara still exerts power over him. This isn’t because of some feminine power, but because—as readers have already seen—she’s just as strong, intelligent, and independent as Gus himself is. It’s no wonder he still loves her or that he still wants the freedom and autonomy he can only have as a single man.
Themes
While Deets and Gus are chatting, a troop of US soldiers led by a drunken Captain Weaver and his belligerent scout, Dixon, approach. Weaver tries to dissuade Call from finishing the drive, due to the threat of Sioux warriors. Then, he tries to requisition horses from the remuda. Call and Gus refuse, angering the man. They part on tense terms, although Weaver makes no attempt to harass them further.
Earlier in the chapter, Gus raised the idea of an attack by Indigenous forces; the heavy presence of the Army in the vicinity reinforces the likelihood of this. The North American planes are beautiful and full of adventure, but they are still very much contested territory in this era. Call’s tense encounter with Weaver reminds readers of Call’s iron will, that quality which Gus knows he use to make himself seem bigger and stronger than any other man—even one with an Army unit at his disposal.
Themes
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