Bolivar Character Analysis in Lonesome Dove

Bolivar is a former Mexican horse bandit turned the Hat Creek Cattle Company cook. A dour man, he has a wife and several daughters who still live in Mexico and whom he visits at regular—if infrequent—intervals. Bolivar isn’t a great cook, and he doesn’t take well to newcomers. Although he starts north with the cattle drive, he turns back after a week and two terrible accidents. Disappointed at the reception he receives from his wife when he makes it back to Mexico, he ultimately returns to Lonesome Dove, where Call finds him still living in the Hat Creek house.

Bolivar Character Timeline in Lonesome Dove

The timeline below shows where the character Bolivar appears in Lonesome Dove. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the cool of nighttime. When the sky begins to turn pink, he rouses the cook, Bolivar, to make supper. (full context)

...bit him. Newt stumbles onto the porch, utterly exhausted from the day’s work, just before Bolivar begins to beat the dinner bell with a crowbar. Bolivar is a former horse bandit... (full context)

With Call refusing to give him the satisfaction of an argument, Augustus turns on Bolivar, chiding him about how he rings the dinner bell. Bolivar sulkily replies that “Gen-eral Lee... (full context)

Back at the house, Augustus, Pea Eye, Newt, Bolivar, and the pigs enjoy the cool evening on the porch. Bolivar sharpens his knife while... (full context)

...anyone has seen an Indigenous person in the area. Call returns a while later, after Bolivar and Pea Eye have gone to bed. The Captain quickly orders Newt to bed, too.... (full context)

...Augustus he envies. By the time Augustus brings the browned sourdough biscuits inside, a hungover Bolivar has begun stumbling around the kitchen, trying to make coffee and eggs. Soon everyone—Pea Eye,... (full context)

Meanwhile, Bolivar begins beating on the dinner bell with his crowbar. The noise hurts Dish’s head and... (full context)

...must make about Lorena and the drive. As he helps himself to a dish of Bolivar’s intensely spicy beef-and-varmint stew, Call says that they should be able to begin the drive... (full context)

...begins singing a melancholy tune that brings tears to Newt’s and Needle Nelson’s eyes. Meanwhile, Bolivar watches on at a distance, unaffected by the tension and drama. He’s trying to decide... (full context)

...interested in joining up. Call hires him on the spot. In the light of morning, Bolivar still hasn’t decided if he’s going which causes alarm. If he stays, the company will... (full context)

...which is notable both for its patchwork coat and its mean disposition—is still alive, too. Bolivar—who has come with the party thus far after all—sets about making breakfast. (full context)

Everyone else—including Bolivar and Lippy in the wagon—make it across without incident, and the cowhands circle up the... (full context)

...although no one in the company will ever know it, the shotgun blast came from Bolivar, who was drifting into a pleasant dream about his daughters when the shotgun in his... (full context)

...thing he hears as he rides into Lonesome Dove at sunset is the sound of Bolivar whacking the dinner bell with his crowbar. The old cook went home to his family... (full context)

As Call stands on the porch and drinks the coffee Bolivar made him, he realizes that the Dry Bean Saloon is gone. He walks into town... (full context)