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Chapter 84
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
When Soupy, Bert, Jasper, Needle—all the worse for wear—drag themselves back to camp in the morning, Newt, Ben, Jimmy, and Pete get their turn in town. Gus and Call follow in the wagon so they can pick up supplies. Po Campo tells them to get water barrels. At first, the boys are too overwhelmed to do more than wander up and down Ogallala’s only street. Then they buy themselves some candy.
The previous evening, Gus judged Ogallala too uncivilized for his tastes. But for the drive’s youngest hands—none of whom had ever left the area around Lonesome Dove prior to the drive—it is the biggest and most exciting metropolis they’ve ever seen. Their desires attest to their youth and innocence. Barely out of their teens, if that, they’re still boys, so they buy candy and dream about having sex with pretty ladies.
Themes
Finally, the boys run into Dish, who tells them where the brothel is. But then, Dixon (the Army scout) rides up and tries to commandeer Dish’s favorite horse. When Dish refuses, Dixon knocks him out and tries to steal the animal, but Newt grabs her bridle and won’t let go. Dixon strikes him with a small riding whip. When Call sees what’s happening, he rushes down the street in a black rage and quickly overpowers Dixon. Within seconds, he’s bashing the much bigger man’s head into a nearby anvil. But Gus lassoes him and drags him off before he can kill Dixon. When the dust settles, Call lamely tells the shocked onlookers that he hates a rude-talking man—they seem to expect an explanation—then rides off.
When Newt instinctively acts to protect his friend Dish’s horse, he shows the strength of his own character as well as how brave he’s grown over the course of the drive. And, as with other difficult things he’s done thus far, he just holds on until it’s over. Call’s action adds yet more weight to his belief that Newt is his son, even though he denies it whenever the subject comes up in conversation with Gus. And his anger speaks to the dark side of his personality, which cannot be crossed, and which allows no insult—either to himself of to those he cares about—to go unpunished.
Themes
