Lonesome Dove

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985

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Part 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Augustus McCrae—known as Gus—is a former Texas Ranger who owns half of the Hat Creek Cattle Company. His partner is Woodrow, who goes by Call. Their operation lies just outside the small town of Lonesome Dove, Texas. When the novel begins, Gus is watching two pigs eat a rattlesnake as he drinks heavily.

Call returns from work with a man named Pea Eye. Call is short but seems tall to everyone. Pea Eye is tall, awkward, and slow in thought. Call is mad because a mare they call the “Hell Bitch” bit him (10). She is the finest horse Call has ever seen, and he is determined to tame her.

A teenager named Newt arrives shortly after. Newt looks up to the men, and he wishes Call would let him carry a gun. He wants to raid the border with them when they take horses from Mexico. As they eat, Gus teases everyone, but he focuses most of his attention on Call, taking great delight in harassing him about the horse bite.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

After dinner, Call walks along the river, scouting out of habit, even though he knows there are no enemies nearby. He recalls fighting the Comanches with Gus when they were working to settle the frontier. He worries that his skills are lapsing since Lonesome Dove is so tame. He tries to avoid his memories and thinks that he is a Captain without a war to fight. His work feels meaningless, and he is increasingly restless.

Bolivar, the cook, sharpens his knife every night, which makes Newt nervous about bandits. Newt, who has no family, is in love with Lorena Wood, a “sporting girl” (that is, a sex worker) at the Dry Bean Saloon in Lonesome Dove, but no one knows. He worries that if someone insults her in front of him, he could do something rash. He thinks that only unfortunate circumstances could have led to her job.

Gus tells the men that Call goes to the river to be alone because he’s “got to be the one to out-suffer everyone” (26). Newt worries that Call will leave one day; he doesn’t know how the company would function without him. Call sends Newt to bed. After a brief argument, Gus leaves for the saloon to gamble. Before Gus leaves, Call reminds him that he won’t allow Lorena around their outfit.

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Lorena is almost 20 years old. She is a beautiful woman who wants to go to San Francisco. Gus is her oldest and most regular customer. Prior to coming to Lonesome Dove, she’d been with a man named Mosby for two years. He began offering her to people to satisfy gambling debts. A man named Tinkersley saved her from Mosby and then took her to San Antonio. However, he proved to be even more abusive than Mosby. She almost killed him, and he left her in Lonesome Dove to cook for Xavier Wanz, the owner of the Dry Bean. Lorena is notably quiet. The narrator says, “Silent happened to be how she felt when men were with her” (35). She recalls an afternoon when Gus gave her 10 dollars just so she would talk about her life. She gave it back rather than talk, and they played cards instead.

Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary

When Gus arrives at the Dry Bean, 22-year-old cowboy Dish Boggett is there. Xavier is wiping tables and a man named Lippy—who has a huge bottom lip—is playing the piano. Lorena is sitting with Dish at a table. Gus recalls his two wives. One died of pleurisy, the other of scarlet fever. Lorena reminds him of Clara Allen, his true love, but he never married her.

Dish is frustrated by Gus’s arrival. He has ridden over 100 miles to see Lorena. He doesn’t have enough money to pay her and hopes that she’ll be charitable, but he knows he isn’t as entertaining as Gus. Lorena livens up as they play cards, but Dish loses most of his next month’s wages. Gus gives him two dollars and invites him to stay at the ranch.

Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary

Gus rises early the next morning to cook breakfast outside, watch the sunrise, and read the Bible, because, the narrator says, he “considers himself a fair prophet and liked to study the style of his predecessors” (50). Dish is there, sleeping by the porch. He is a hero to Newt, who aspires to be a great ranch hand.

Dish feels stricken with love for Lorena as he recalls the previous night. Call looks at Dish and thinks that if he had several more hands like Dish he could drive a herd north. He’s been considering it for a year. He mentions that they can use Dish to rustle cattle over the border. Deets—one of their most valuable men, and their greatest tracker and scout—arrives with a man named Jake Spoon. Deets is a Black man who has been with them for years. Jake is an old friend who spent time with Gus and Call in the Rangers.

Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis

The early chapters introduce some of the major characters and set up the relationship between Gus and Call. They could not be more different, but they are also inseparable. They share a bond that goes back to the hardships they experienced as Rangers. Although Call has been contemplating the drive to Montana, Jake’s arrival is the inciting incident that will set the drive, and the novel, in motion. McMurtry has already hinted at Call’s restlessness and his dissatisfaction with their work. He prefers to act out of duty rather than merely work hard. When Gus tells the men that Call has to suffer more than anyone else to feel satisfied, it reinforces the restlessness that Call feels in the absence of urgent, dangerous duty. His habits as a leader are so ingrained that he cannot be comfortable with the men when they are relaxed. He scouts the river trying to retain the skills and vigilance he formed as a Ranger.

By contrast, McMurtry ironically describes Gus’s reading of the Bible as the actions of a man who “considers himself a fair prophet and liked to study the style of his predecessors” (50). Gus considers himself a prophet only to the extent that telling people he is a prophet will confuse or annoy them. He does not treat the Bible as divine but as a prop to start arguments and augment his reputation. The relationship between Call and Gus introduces the novel’s theme of Friendship and Loyalty. Although the two men have opposing temperaments regarding work, duty, and romantic love, and they superficially don’t get along, these chapters hint at the abiding affection and loyalty between the men, which will drive much of the novel’s narrative.

Lorena’s story foreshadows the abuse she will experience at the hands of other men. Her silence is her most obvious characteristic in these chapters. She has nothing to say to the men who use her for sex, and she refuses—or cannot—pretend to enjoy herself. Her affection for Gus reinforces his unique temperament; he does not need her to talk to enjoy himself, although he would love to hear more about her. Gus understands that people cannot be forced to be anyone but themselves.