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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Key Examples in Lonesome Dove
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Ulysses:
The narrator frames Call’s cattle drive and long march north as a kind of frontier odyssey, which many academics have suggested is an allusion to the mythic travels of Ulysses (also called Odysseus) in Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey. People often call long journeys “odysseys” because of Homer’s poem, which tells the story of King Ulysses’s 10-year struggle to return home to his island of Ithaca after the Trojan War. His trip is filled with obstacles and trials, so the word “odyssey” has come to mean any extended and challenging journey. In the Greek epic, Ulysses is tested by gods, monsters, shipwrecks, and temptations that try to pull him off his course. He doesn’t have any special powers except his cunning and his refusal to give up on the goal of returning to Ithaca.
Related Themes:
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Don Quixote:
Larry McMurtry himself describes Lonesome Dove as the literary heir to Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, one of the most influential works of early modern literature and one of the earliest novels ever written. In Cervantes’s book, the aging knight Don Quixote sets out on a wandering quest filled with comic misadventures. He’s obsessed with chasing the romantic ideals of danger and glory where little of either truly exists in his world. His loyal, practical squire Sancho Panza is a counterweight to Quixote’s dreamy, overblown idealism. He grounds Quixote’s grand illusions with a dose of ordinary common sense, much like Call does for Augustus.
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Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Comforting Food:
The motif of enjoying food in Lonesome Dove represents comfort in the harsh conditions of the cattle drive. Sharing food is one of the few consistent sources of nonverbal connection among McMurtry’s group of desert-hardened men. Meals provide them with sustenance for their trip, but being able to enjoy food whether in company or alone is one of the very few comforts their world offers. It also provides a sense of routine that the chaotic life of the trail might otherwise lack. For example, Augustus cooks his breakfast of sourdough biscuits in the same way every morning:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Augustus cooked his biscuits outside for three reasons. One was because the house was sure to heat up well enough anyway during the day [...] Two was because biscuits cooked in a Dutch oven tasted better than stove-cooked biscuits [...] , and three was because he liked to be outside to catch the first light. A man that depended on an indoor cookstove would miss the sunrise.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Importance of Horses:
Horses in Lonesome Dove function as extensions of their riders, and the cowhands themselves are measured by how well they can handle horses. The novel makes the idea of being a good rider into a motif, tying skill, status, and survival directly to each man’s relationship with his mount and his ability to control them. The first time Call meets Dish, for example, he makes an assessment of him purely based on how he perceives him as a horseman:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He was a lank fellow, loose-built, and a good rider. Five or six more like him and they could make up a herd themselves and drive it north.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—The Importance of Horses:
Horses in Lonesome Dove function as extensions of their riders, and the cowhands themselves are measured by how well they can handle horses. The novel makes the idea of being a good rider into a motif, tying skill, status, and survival directly to each man’s relationship with his mount and his ability to control them. The first time Call meets Dish, for example, he makes an assessment of him purely based on how he perceives him as a horseman:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He was a lank fellow, loose-built, and a good rider. Five or six more like him and they could make up a herd themselves and drive it north.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Crossing Rivers:
Rivers appear as a motif throughout Lonesome Dove, as they consistently function as barriers and points of no return. Each time they encounter a river, characters are forced to confront the risks of their journey. Crossing them is never safe, and often brings the threat of stampede, loss of stock, or death by drowning. Each encounter with large bodies of water has the potential to be a moment of crisis. At the same time, rivers are a necessity of survival along the trail. There are some points in the book when rivers are literally described as borders between worlds or countries, as when Call suggests to Augustus that they steal the horses from the Hacienda Flores ranch:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was there when the Rio Grande was just a river, not a boundary; the vaqueros would cross that river as casually as they crossed any stream. Millions of acres that had once been part of the Hacienda were now part of Texas, but vaqueros still crossed the river and brought back cattle and horses.
Related Themes:
Chapter 45
Explanation and Analysis—Comforting Food:
The motif of enjoying food in Lonesome Dove represents comfort in the harsh conditions of the cattle drive. Sharing food is one of the few consistent sources of nonverbal connection among McMurtry’s group of desert-hardened men. Meals provide them with sustenance for their trip, but being able to enjoy food whether in company or alone is one of the very few comforts their world offers. It also provides a sense of routine that the chaotic life of the trail might otherwise lack. For example, Augustus cooks his breakfast of sourdough biscuits in the same way every morning:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Augustus cooked his biscuits outside for three reasons. One was because the house was sure to heat up well enough anyway during the day [...] Two was because biscuits cooked in a Dutch oven tasted better than stove-cooked biscuits [...] , and three was because he liked to be outside to catch the first light. A man that depended on an indoor cookstove would miss the sunrise.
Related Themes:
