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8. Duchess
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
When Emmett and Billy reach the train station, Emmett explains that they will have to stow away on a freight train. He phrases this carefully to avoid upsetting Billy, a “stickler” for all rules. Billy compares the plan to Duchess and Woolly’s escape in Warden Williams’s car, which Duchess told him about. Emmett tries to warn Billy about Duchess. When Duchess recalled sneaking out to the movies, Emmett explains, he left out the night that he refused to cross a river with another boy, and was caught by the police trying to hitchhike away. Duchess was beaten for this, but the racist policies of Ackerly (the former warden) led to a worse beating for the other boy, Townhouse, who was Black. Billy says that the story makes him sad for Duchess, since Duchess probably refused to cross the river because he was ashamed to admit he couldn’t swim.
In his story, Duchess intended to paint himself as a renegade hero, and he excluded Townhouse’s role in the story because it didn’t fit the narrative he wanted to convey. This emphasizes that even small acts of deception like Duchess’s seemingly harmless stories warp the truth. This is especially egregious considering Duchess’s version of events conceals the racist policies of Salina and the abuse Townhouse suffered. On the other hand, Billy’s observation that Duchess can’t swim also demonstrates the potential of stories to reveal truth, even unintentionally, and therefore to inspire empathy.
Themes
Emmett scouts out the freight yard and approaches a laborer and asks for his help getting on a train. The laborer dismisses him, but an elderly beggar in a wheelchair calls Emmett over and offers to help. He explains that he worked on the trains for 25 years before injuring his legs. The story cuts away from their conversation and Emmett returns to Billy, whom he is frustrated to find has accepted sandwiches from a stranger. Emmett explains the danger of talking to strangers, then reads to Billy from his favorite book, a collection of heroes from myth and history. These heroes are listed in alphabetical order, and the hero for the letter Y is “you,” inviting the reader to undertake their own adventure.
Emmett has become desperate enough to ask for help, but he seeks out a man of similar status to himself to ask. When that man rejects him, Emmett has to humble himself by accepting a beggar’s help. Emmett’s conversation with Billy speaks to Billy’s idealistic view of the world, which is shaped by his love of stories. Billy’s book encourages his naïvely trusting nature, but it also grants him confidence as he and Emmett undertake their journey.
Themes
