Lonesome Dove Themes

The world in which Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call live is rapidly changing. As Texas Rangers, Gus and Call participated in shaping this changing world. Now, as retirees, they and Pedro Flores just steal cattle back and forth across the US-Mexico border. When the opportunity arises, Gus and Call are eager to participate in the opening and settlement of one last frontier: Montana. By following the cattle drive, the westward journeys of Elmira, July…

All of the characters in Lonesome Dove seem to come from broken families. Janey, Lorena, Clara, and Newt are orphans; Po Campo, Augustus, and Clara all lose spouses; the sons of Po Campo and Clara and Bob die too young. Short of death, there’s also abandonment: Bolivar leaves his family in Mexico, and Elmira runs away from July and Joe in Arkansas. Even Gus ran away from his family to…

Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call represent two perspectives on an ancient debate about how best to live. Call has a stoic outlook—he wants to master his emotions, to approach the world in a logical way, and to live up to high ethical standards. In contrast, Gus is an epicurean: he finds happiness in friendship and moderate pleasures like drinking whiskey and enjoying sunrise and sunset. Other characters represent more extreme versions of these two poles…

In addition to its many other narrative threads, Lonesome Dove tells the coming-of-age story of a boy named Newt. Newt is the teenaged son of Woodrow Call (though Call refuses to publicly acknowledge it) and a sex worker named Maggie. After her death, the Hat Creek boys universally adopted him, and as he grows up, Newt adopts his father figures’ best traits, becoming the book’s model for positive masculinity. He learns to work…

When Pea Eye imagines marrying Mary Cole, he can’t get past the part where he’d have to live with her. He wonders if he could marry her but continue living down the street with the Hat Creek boys. Pea Eye adopts the worldview of his role model, Call, who divides the world into masculine and feminine spheres and is uncomfortable when these intersect in ways that he seems to think endanger male autonomy…