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6. Duchess (2)
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
Sally confronts her father, Mr. Ransom, for buying the Watsons’ farm so quickly after it went to market. She accuses him of deliberately ignoring Charlie Watson’s need for help for the sake of expanding his own land, and of telling Emmett to leave so Mr. Ransom could finally purchase the farm. Mr. Ransom scoffs that Emmett would have left Sally without Mr. Ransom’s advice; Mr. Ransom asserts that he can tell a “stayer” from a “goer.” Sally asks which one she is, and Mr. Ransom scolds her for being a “willful young woman.” Sally, furious, drives off in the truck, returning from the fields to the farmhouse. There she finds the sheriff sitting on the porch.
Sally is observant and intelligent, but her talents are stifled by sexism. Instead of seeing her intelligence and morals as strengths, Mr. Ransom sees them as flaws that make Sally “willful” rather than obedient. He also assumes that Sally only takes umbrage with his treatment of the Watsons because she harbors romantic feelings for Emmett. This mindset, which Emmett shares, reduces Sally to a romantic interest for Emmett and ignores that she is her own person. Her question of whether she is a “goer” also draws a parallel between Sally and Billy and Emmett’s mother, as Sally becomes another woman who might leave behind her responsibilities to pursue adventure and independence.
Themes
