Lonesome Dove

Lonesome Dove

by

Larry McMurtry

Dan Suggs Character Analysis

Dan Suggs is a failed cowhand-turned-outlaw and gambler whose gang—comprised of Dan’s brothers Roy and Ed and also a Black man named Frog LipJake Spoon joins at Fort Worth. Dan and his gang plan to make a living as brigands and outlaws in Indian Territory by demanding protection money from settlers and rustling cows and horses from cattle drives—or by becoming bank robbers. Of the three brothers, Dan is the most bloodthirsty and psychotic; he kills settlers for fun and desecrates their corpses. Dan harbors a grudge against Wilbarger for once firing him, and he becomes irate with his brothers and Jake for letting Wilbarger escape when they steal his horses. He is executed by Call, Deets, and Pea Eye for the crimes of horse theft and murder.

Dan Suggs Quotes in Lonesome Dove

The Lonesome Dove quotes below are all either spoken by Dan Suggs or refer to Dan Suggs . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Mythology Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

It was funny how one shot could make a man’s reputation like that. It was a hip shot Jake made because he was scared, and it killed a Mexican bandit […]. Jake shot blind from the hip, with the sun in his eyes to boot, and hit the bandit right in the Adam’s apple, a thing not likely to occur more than once in a lifetime, if that often.

But it was Jake’s luck that most of the men who saw him make the shot were raw boys too, with not enough judgment to appreciate how lucky a thing it was. Those that survived grew up told the story all across the West [… about] what a dead pistol shot Jake Spoon was, though any many who had fought with him through the years would know that he was no shot at all with a pistol and only a fair shot with a rifle.

Related Characters: Captain Woodrow Call, Augustus McCrae, Jake Spoon, July Johnson, Dan Suggs , Roy Suggs, Ed Suggs
Page Number: 71-72
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dan Suggs Quotes in Lonesome Dove

The Lonesome Dove quotes below are all either spoken by Dan Suggs or refer to Dan Suggs . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Mythology Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

It was funny how one shot could make a man’s reputation like that. It was a hip shot Jake made because he was scared, and it killed a Mexican bandit […]. Jake shot blind from the hip, with the sun in his eyes to boot, and hit the bandit right in the Adam’s apple, a thing not likely to occur more than once in a lifetime, if that often.

But it was Jake’s luck that most of the men who saw him make the shot were raw boys too, with not enough judgment to appreciate how lucky a thing it was. Those that survived grew up told the story all across the West [… about] what a dead pistol shot Jake Spoon was, though any many who had fought with him through the years would know that he was no shot at all with a pistol and only a fair shot with a rifle.

Related Characters: Captain Woodrow Call, Augustus McCrae, Jake Spoon, July Johnson, Dan Suggs , Roy Suggs, Ed Suggs
Page Number: 71-72
Explanation and Analysis: