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3. Sally
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Lincoln Highway, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Stories, Truth, and Lies
Debts and Atonement
Maturity and Responsibility
Adventure
Pride vs. Humility
Summary
Analysis
Duchess and Billy serve the group an Italian dinner, inspired by Duchess’s story of the Italian restaurant Leonello’s. Everyone has a wonderful time, until Sarah and her husband Dennis walk in. Dennis is furious to see that the boys have emptied 4 bottles of his expensive wine. Dennis brings Woolly into his office and explains that Woolly’s eldest sister called Sarah when she had reason to believe Woolly was no longer at Salina. Dennis scolds Woolly at length, accusing him of disrespecting his family by squandering the education they offered him and fleeing from Salina, which Woolly was only sent to because his family lied about his age so he wouldn’t be tried as an adult. He demands Woolly finish his sentence at Salina and informs him that after his sentence concludes, Woolly will work for Dennis’s friend to teach him responsibility.
Woolly’s family resents him for his immaturity, but their overprotection and lack of trust in Woolly is precisely why he has not matured. His family’s wealth means that Woolly never had to take on financial responsibility the way Emmett did, and their high social standing enabled Woolly to move from school to school after infractions, and so he never got the chance to navigate a problem on his own or even discover who he might be outside of the rigid institution of boarding schools. Woolly’s family does not trust his ability to look after himself, so they never give him the chance to learn to do so, which escalates when they lie in court to earn Woolly a lighter sentence.
Themes
