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Lonesome Dove is a classic American Western novel written by Larry McMurtry.Lonesome Dove is a novel about love and adventure.It contacts all the Western characteristics： legend and fact，heroes and outlaws，whores and ladies，Indians and settlers.The novel recreates the Central American experience，the most enduring of our national myths.Set in the late nineteenth century，Lonesome Dove is the story of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.It is a drive that represents for everybody involved not only a daring，even a foolhardy，adventure，but a part of the American Dream，which is the attempt to carve out the last remaining wilderness of a new life.
Lonesome Dove is a remarkable novel in which he uses his past and insight on the Wild West to create an incredible fiction story tying together realistic struggles in America’s history with sorrow，love，and adventure.Through the lives of several well-developed characters known as Augustus McCrae，Woodrow Call，Newt，Clara，Deets，McMurtry is able to develop a strong story line consisting of other overlapping conflicts.This novel relates the tale of two aging former Texas Rangers，Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae，who decide to go on one last major journey together，driving cattle north from Texas to Montana.Along the way，they lose friends and employees and come to some deep realizations about themselves.They leave the town of Lonesome Dove，Texas after Jake Spoon regales them with tales of the beauty of Montana.They travel through Oklahoma，Kansas，and Nebraska and cross paths with good men and bad and reveal their own weaknesses and strengths.They fight battles with storms，Indians，and even the US Calvary is their search for a new life，and in the end，Gus dies of arrow wounds and Call find himself back in Lonesome Dove burying Gus.
The most prevalent theme concerns the idea of death and its sever-present part of life in the old west.When Call organizes the cattle drive，he sets into motion a dangerous period in the lives of many people.They experience not only terrible living conditions，but also the loss of many of the people who become their friends，sometimes in horrible ways.Newt is especially impacted when he loses his friends，Sean O’Brien to snake bites，and Pete Spettle to a lightening strike，and his mentors Jake Spoon and Gus McCrae.Part of growing up in this time period is accepting the reality that death is more likely early in life than living to a ripe old age.
The theme of maturity is also an important idea.This idea affects all the characters，even Call and Gus who have moved into middle age.It means accepting things that cannot be changed and continuing to live.And it means accepting the mistakes that one makes in life，dealing with the pain those mistakes cause，and attempting to change when change is necessary.Call is the ultimate example of this theme.He desperately wants to claim Newt as his son，but his overwhelming pride keeps him from telling the boy even before he takes Gus’ body back to Texas.The result is devastating for Newt who bitterly proclaims that he has no kin. The old physics law - for every action，there is an equal and opposite reaction- seems appropriate as theme of this novel.Throughout the story，various characters at various times，one particular event set off other events that ended in disaster or death.For example，Gus often states that if Jake Spoon hadn’t accidentally killed the dentist in Fort Smith，Arkansas，they would never have set off for Montana.It’s Jake’s glowing description of Montana that encourages Call to organize the cattle drive.From there，the characters meet various fates that would not have occurred if they hadn’t set off for unknown territories.Of course，personal decision making impacts on a variety of outcomes for all the characters，but it seems as if one decision frequently brings difficult consequences.
Another theme that is extremely prevalent is that of regret.The main characters have many instances where they come to regret decisions they made.For example，Clara Allen has extreme regret that she was unable to separate Gus from Call，whose decisions keep Gus from her all those years.She also regrets that she never accepted his marriage proposal，even though in her heart，she knew that they were too much alike to have ever been happy in a marriage.The feeling of regret is obviously very human，but in this novel it often sets the mood.
The last important theme is the stereotypical good versus evil.However，in spite of the stereotypical aspect of this theme，it is a very important one in Lonesome Dove.The cowboys are the good guys，who seek justice when necessary and become judge and jury in many instances.They also try to bring peace to the settlers and track the bad guys like Blue Duck.Blue Duck is an Indian，but he is not an Indian who seeks revenge for the loss of their culture and their land； he is a killing machine who must be stopped.There are other instances as well where good triumphs over evil，but since life is not always that simple，good and evil often merge and the outcome is not always so straightforward.
Lonesome Dove is a remarkable novel in which he uses his past and insight on the Wild West to create an incredible fiction story tying together realistic struggles in America’s history with sorrow，love，and adventure.Through the lives of several well-developed characters known as Augustus McCrae，Woodrow Call，Newt，Clara，Deets，McMurtry is able to develop a strong story line consisting of other overlapping conflicts.This novel relates the tale of two aging former Texas Rangers，Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae，who decide to go on one last major journey together，driving cattle north from Texas to Montana.Along the way，they lose friends and employees and come to some deep realizations about themselves.They leave the town of Lonesome Dove，Texas after Jake Spoon regales them with tales of the beauty of Montana.They travel through Oklahoma，Kansas，and Nebraska and cross paths with good men and bad and reveal their own weaknesses and strengths.They fight battles with storms，Indians，and even the US Calvary is their search for a new life，and in the end，Gus dies of arrow wounds and Call find himself back in Lonesome Dove burying Gus.
The most prevalent theme concerns the idea of death and its sever-present part of life in the old west.When Call organizes the cattle drive，he sets into motion a dangerous period in the lives of many people.They experience not only terrible living conditions，but also the loss of many of the people who become their friends，sometimes in horrible ways.Newt is especially impacted when he loses his friends，Sean O’Brien to snake bites，and Pete Spettle to a lightening strike，and his mentors Jake Spoon and Gus McCrae.Part of growing up in this time period is accepting the reality that death is more likely early in life than living to a ripe old age.
The theme of maturity is also an important idea.This idea affects all the characters，even Call and Gus who have moved into middle age.It means accepting things that cannot be changed and continuing to live.And it means accepting the mistakes that one makes in life，dealing with the pain those mistakes cause，and attempting to change when change is necessary.Call is the ultimate example of this theme.He desperately wants to claim Newt as his son，but his overwhelming pride keeps him from telling the boy even before he takes Gus’ body back to Texas.The result is devastating for Newt who bitterly proclaims that he has no kin. The old physics law - for every action，there is an equal and opposite reaction- seems appropriate as theme of this novel.Throughout the story，various characters at various times，one particular event set off other events that ended in disaster or death.For example，Gus often states that if Jake Spoon hadn’t accidentally killed the dentist in Fort Smith，Arkansas，they would never have set off for Montana.It’s Jake’s glowing description of Montana that encourages Call to organize the cattle drive.From there，the characters meet various fates that would not have occurred if they hadn’t set off for unknown territories.Of course，personal decision making impacts on a variety of outcomes for all the characters，but it seems as if one decision frequently brings difficult consequences.
Another theme that is extremely prevalent is that of regret.The main characters have many instances where they come to regret decisions they made.For example，Clara Allen has extreme regret that she was unable to separate Gus from Call，whose decisions keep Gus from her all those years.She also regrets that she never accepted his marriage proposal，even though in her heart，she knew that they were too much alike to have ever been happy in a marriage.The feeling of regret is obviously very human，but in this novel it often sets the mood.
The last important theme is the stereotypical good versus evil.However，in spite of the stereotypical aspect of this theme，it is a very important one in Lonesome Dove.The cowboys are the good guys，who seek justice when necessary and become judge and jury in many instances.They also try to bring peace to the settlers and track the bad guys like Blue Duck.Blue Duck is an Indian，but he is not an Indian who seeks revenge for the loss of their culture and their land； he is a killing machine who must be stopped.There are other instances as well where good triumphs over evil，but since life is not always that simple，good and evil often merge and the outcome is not always so straightforward.