Lonesome Dove

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985

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Part 2, Chapters 31-35Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 31 Summary

Deets helps the men prepare for the coming storm. The cattle begin to run just as the blowing sand blinds Newt. A broken tree limb hits him. Lightning begins to strike, and Newt sees it in the cattle’s horns, arcing from tip to tip. Soon, torrents of rain replace the sand. It is the longest night of Newt’s life.

Part 2, Chapter 32 Summary

Lorena’s horse bolts because Jake forgot to hobble their rides. The lightning terrifies her. She hits Jake when he tries to pull her out from beneath a tree. Lightning hits the tree and splits it moments later.

Part 2, Chapter 33 Summary

In the morning, Call is pleased with the outcome of the storm. They lost few cattle and no men. Deets can’t find Gus. Dish is happy that he kept the herd together, and everyone admires his skills. Call watches a bull that joined the herd in Texas. It does not wear a brand and joined them of its own accord. It is extremely ill-tempered and is as likely to charge the men as anything else. They are all wary of it and no one understands why it joined their herd.

Part 2, Chapter 34 Summary

Gus visits Lorena with her horse while Jake is looking for it. Gus thinks she looks more relaxed than he has ever seen her. Jake wants to go to San Antonio to gamble. He slaps Lorena when she refuses to go with him. After Gus leaves, Jake confronts her again, but Lorena still refuses to go. She says he can go to San Antonio, but she is staying in camp and looking forward to the trip.

Part 2, Chapter 35 Summary

The herd is sluggish after the night’s walk. Soon the men and cattle are covered in mosquitos. Gus remembers how much he loved Clara, and the sadness he felt on the day she told him that she was marrying Bob. She had told him to visit after ten years of marriage.

As the men and cattle cross the river, a group of water moccasins attack. Gus shoots two snakes as the others beat the water with their ropes. Sean suffers several bites, and Newt cries when he realizes Sean is dying. Deets feels guilty for choosing this spot to cross the river. They bury Sean beneath a tree and Allen tries to sing. Gus makes a brief speech and urges them to move on.

Part 2, Chapters 31-35 Analysis

The pivotal event of these chapters is Sean’s death. The company has not yet encountered the danger that other people present, but in these five brief chapters introduce the danger of the natural world: lightning strikes, scattering cattle, torrential rain, and attack by water moccasins. The Texas bull is a symbol of how unpredictable their lives are and how dangerous the plains are. The bull joined them of its own will, it refuses to leave, and it menaces the men whenever it desires. No matter how well they prepare themselves, or how vigilant they are, they are in unfamiliar, uncontrollable territory. Sean died far from his homeland because he joined the cattle drive.

Besides portraying the increasing hostility of their surroundings, McMurtry uses these chapters to make Jake more distasteful. He makes no pretense of wanting to help the herd, to show affection to Lorena, or to express gratitude for the protection the drive offers him from the law. He selfishly insists on going to San Antonio to gamble, then abuses Lorena when she refuses to comply. His drinking and the fever from the thorn make him unreliable and unstable. The tension grows with each new interaction that signals Jake’s inability to protect Lorena in increasingly dangerous territory. The extreme conditions both illustrate the theme of the Brutality of Nature and deepen the novel’s exploration of Friendship and Loyalty. While hardship brings Gus and Call closer together, it drives Jake away from Lorena because his interest in her was selfish from the start.