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7. Woolly
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
The next morning, the freight train stops for maintenance in Cedar Rapids, so Emmett climbs out of the train car in search of food. He sneaks into a passenger car, where a wealthy passenger mistakes him for a train steward and asks him to retrieve a bottle of gin from across the car. The passenger makes cheerful conversation with Emmett, and Emmett dislikes the ease with which the man trusts that every problem in his life will be taken care of for him. The train starts to move. Emmett starts to leave, but the passenger stops him. Though Emmett is alarmed, the passenger only tips Emmett a dollar and lets him on his way. Emmett jumps from car to car on the moving train to find the car where he left Billy. He almost falls, and after recovering he notices that the watch he borrowed from Billy has broken.
Emmett’s interaction with the wealthy passenger highlights how poverty has affected his life. He has had to shoulder adult responsibilities since his youth, so he doesn’t approach the world with the same blind faith in goodness that the passenger does. In fact, the passenger’s carefree idealism echoes the worldviews of Billy, a child, and Woolly, who grew up with similar privilege. The ease with which the passenger tips Emmett also suggests that generosity is easy when one lives with abundance.
Themes
