Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
**Overview of *Lonesome Dove* by Larry McMurtry**
*Lonesome Dove*, published in 1985 by Larry McMurtry, is a sweeping western novel that follows the lives of two former Texas Rangers, Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae, as they navigate life in the small town of Lonesome Dove, Texas. The story centers on their ambitious cattle drive to Montana, inspired by the arrival of Jake Spoon, a character with a troubled past. As the novel unfolds, readers encounter a diverse cast, including cowboys, a cook, and a young man named Newt, who become entangled in themes of love, friendship, and the harsh realities of frontier life.
The narrative is set against the backdrop of the American West, touching on the relationships between characters and the challenges they face, such as encounters with outlaws, the struggle for survival, and personal betrayals. Notable subplots involve the romantic aspirations of various characters, including the complexities of love and desire as seen through the interactions between Gus, Lorena, and Clara. Additionally, the novel addresses social issues, such as the treatment of Native Americans and the roles of women in the frontier society.
As the story progresses, the characters endure both triumphs and tragedies, leading to significant transformations and revelations about their identities and relationships. Ultimately, *Lonesome Dove* explores the themes of legacy and loss, culminating in a poignant reflection on friendship and the passage of time. This richly woven tale offers a compelling glimpse into the rugged life of the American frontier while raising questions about morality and human connection.
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Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
First published: 1985
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Western
Time of plot: Late 1870’s
Locale: Texas, Nebraska, Montana, and adjoining states
Principal characters
Augustus “Gus” McCrae andWoodrow F. Call , former Texas Rangers and co-owners of the Hat Creek Cattle CompanyJake Spoon , a former Texas Ranger, now a gamblerJosh Deets , an expert scoutPea Eye Parker , a former corporal in the RangersNewt Dobbs , the illegitimate son of Call and a prostituteBolivar , a cookLorena Wood , a prostituteClara Allen , McCrae’s great loveDish (Dishwater) Boggett , a cowboyBlue Duck , a murderer and thiefJuly Johnson , a sheriffElmira Johnson , his wifeJoe Boot , Elmira’s sonRoscoe Brown , July’s deputyJaney , an orphanPo Campo , a cook
The Story:
In the small town of Lonesome Dove on the Rio Grande, Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae have retired from the Texas Rangers and begun the Hat Creek Cattle Company. Their employees include Pea Eye Parker, Josh Deets, the cook Bolivar, and the seventeen-year-old Newt Dobbs. Jake Spoon, a former Ranger who worked with Call and McCrae, suddenly appears and praises Montana as a cattleman’s paradise, inspiring Call to make the first drive of cattle from Texas to Montana. Jake is on the run from Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he accidentally killed the sheriff’s brother.
In the town of Lonesome Dove, the Dry Bean saloon provides the only entertainment. Owned by Xavier Wanz, it employs Lippy as the piano player and Lorena Wood as a prostitute. Dish Boggett, a top-hand cowboy, falls in love with Lorena and hires on with the Hat Creek outfit. While gathering cattle and horses in Mexico for the drive to Montana, Call finds two lost Irishmen, Allen and Sean O’Brien, who are subsequently hired along with other cowboys.
Jake begins to live with Lorena, who is convinced that he will take her to San Francisco. Against Call’s wishes, Jake and Lorena follow the herd north, camping nearby. On the drive, Gus is followed by two pigs, and he brings the sign he made for the company, which features the Latin motto uva uvam vivendo varia fit (a corruption of a line attributed to Juvenal originally meaning “a grape ripens when it sees another grape”). Gus is motivated by a desire to reunite with his one great love, Clara Allen, who has married and lives near Ogallala, Nebraska.
In Fort Smith, sheriff July Johnson sets off after Jake Spoon. July has recently married Elmira, who has a twelve-year-old son, Joe. Elmira has lied to July, telling him that Joe’s father, Dee Boot, is dead. She convinces July to take Joe with him to Texas. After they leave, Elmira boards a whiskey boat to search for Dee. Roscoe Brown, July’s deputy, reluctantly follows July to tell him that Elmira has run off. Roscoe meets an orphan girl, Janey, who then accompanies him. Elmira attracts an admirer, a buffalo hunter named Big Zwey.
While the Hat Creek group is crossing the Nueces River with the herd, Sean O’Brien is killed by water moccasins. With Lorena, Gus encounters Blue Duck, a notorious outlaw, but he does not shoot him. After Bolivar quits the drive and heads back to Lonesome Dove, Call hires Po Campo as the new cook. Gus sends Newt to guard Lorena, but Blue Duck kidnaps her. Gus pursues them, refusing to take Jake with him. July and Joe run into Roscoe and Janey.
Gus catches up to the men holding Lorena. She has been raped and beaten. Blue Duck sends his men to kill the trailing Gus, but Gus shoots a number of them and the rest retreat. July, Roscoe, Joe, and Janey meet Gus, and July insists on accompanying Gus to rescue Lorena. Blue Duck eludes them, killing Roscoe, Joe, and Janey. Gus shoots Lorena’s remaining captors and takes her to rejoin the Hat Creek drive; July pursues Elmira.
Jake begins to ride with a gang of thieves and murderers. He kills the husband of a pretty girl with whom he was flirting. The bloodthirsty Dan Suggs leads the gang on a murderous rampage, during which they also steal horses. Call, Gus, Deets, and Newt track the gang, soon catching them. Call and Gus hang the three Suggs brothers and Jake.
Near Ogallala, Elmira stops at Clara Allen’s horse ranch and gives birth to a son. Leaving her child behind, Elmira finds Dee in Ogallala, where he has been jailed and will be hanged for murder. At Clara’s ranch, July discovers his son, and he locates Elmira in town. Elmira flees again, but July decides not to chase her. He learns later that she and Zwey were killed by Indians.
In Ogallala, an Army scout tries to take Dish’s horse; he lashes Newt, who refuses to let go of the animal. Call severely beats the scout. Newt and some of the other boys buy sex from prostitutes. Gus brings Call, Lorena, and Newt to Clara’s ranch. Gus and Clara do not rekindle their love affair, in part because Clara’s husband is still alive—although he has been kicked by a horse and rendered comatose. Lorena, taken with Clara, her two daughters, and July’s son, decides to stay on the ranch, while the Hat Creek outfit continues the drive. Gus tells Newt that Call is his father.
The men and livestock survive an 80-mile stretch without water. Call, Gus, and Deets track Indians who have stolen some of their horses. At the Indians’ camp, Deets is killed by a boy with a lance. In Montana, the Texas bull that has been leading the herd fights a grizzly bear to a draw. While on scout duty with Pea Eye, Gus is wounded by Indians whom the men stand off in a creek bed. When a rainstorm fills the creek, Pea Eye swims away and sets off on foot for help. On his walk, Pea Eye sees Deets’s ghost and is eventually found by his living companions.
Gus manages to make it to Miles City. A doctor amputates one of his legs, but Gus refuses to let him amputate the other, though he knows that he will die otherwise. Call finds Gus but cannot talk him into the other amputation. Before he dies, Gus elicits a promise from Call that he will take Gus’s body back to Texas to be buried. Call establishes a ranch between the Missouri and Milk rivers. Dish quits and returns to Nebraska and Lorena.
In the spring, Call puts Newt in charge of the ranch; however, he is unable tell Newt that he is his father. Retrieving Gus’s body, Call sets out for Texas. At her ranch, Clara cannot convince Call to bury Gus there, and she expresses her full scorn for Call. In New Mexico, Call stops to see Blue Duck hanged, but the outlaw throws himself out of a third-story window to cheat the gallows. Dragging Gus’s body on the Hat Creek sign, Call finally arrives at the spot on the Guadalupe River where Gus wanted to be buried. To mark Gus’s grave, Call uses the remaining portion of the sign, which shows only the company’s name. Call returns to Lonesome Dove to find Bolivar living there. He also discovers that, for desperate love of Lorena, Xavier Wanz burned himself to death in the Dry Bean.
Bibliography
Birchfield, D. L. “Lonesome Duck: The Blueing of Texas-American Myth.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 7, no. 2 (Summer, 1995): 45-64. Criticizes Lonesome Dove for its elision of the historical reality of the brutal treatment of Native Americans by Texans, including Texas Rangers.
Daigrepont, Lloyd M. “Passion, Romance, and Agape in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove.” Lamar Journal of the Humanities 30, no. 2 (Fall, 2005): 43-61. Examines the characters’ doomed search for transformation through love.
Kiefer, Christian. “Unneighborly Behavior: Blood Meridian, Lonesome Dove, and the Problem of Reader Sympathy.” Southwestern American Literature 33, no. 1 (Fall, 2007): 39-52. Compares Lonesome Dove with Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, also published in 1985; concludes that Lonesome Dove is more comforting to readers’ sensibilities because it is more traditional, romantic, and morally certain than McCarthy’s work.
Miller-Purrenhage, John. “’Kin to Nobody’: The Disruption of Genealogy in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove.” Studies in Contemporary Fiction 47, no. 1 (Fall, 2005): 73-89. Considers the disruptions in familial relationships among the characters to argue that the novel rejects the myth of the American West as a coherent narrative of national identity.
Reynolds, Clay, ed. Taking Stock: A Larry McMurtry Casebook. Dallas, Tex.: Southern Methodist University Press, 1989. Collection of previously published and original articles considering McMurtry’s fiction and essays through 1988. Several articles focus on Lonesome Dove, linking it to McMurtry’s lifelong themes and to established ideas on the American West. An extensive bibliography also lists criticism of film adaptations of McMurtry’s novels, including the 1989 adaptation of Lonesome Dove.
Ronald, Ann. “Company for a Lonesome Dove.” In Reader of the Purple Sage: Essays on Western Writers and Environmental Literature. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2003. Assesses the novel’s use of established Western plot and character elements to judge its reputation against those of other novels in the genre.