Lonesome Dove

Lonesome Dove

by

Larry McMurtry

Sign Symbol Icon

The Hat Creek Cattle Company’s sign—which barely survives the trip to and from Montana—symbolizes Augustus McCrae’s seemingly futile attempt to introduce a sense of sophistication and refinement to his gang’s otherwise tough, hardscrabble life. At the beginning of the novel, the sign bears the names of the Hat Creek Cattle Company’s four members (Gus, Call, Pea Eye, and Deets), their offerings, and a Latin motto. Most of its text exists to assuage Gus’s vanity. For instance, it highlights the fact that he’s the only one in town who can spell “Emporium,” and Gus gets testy when Call asks him what the motto means—he doesn’t know because he ran away before finishing his education, and life in Texas provides few excuses for reading and even fewer men for Gus to talk philosophy with. In fact, in many years, no one but Wilbarger really notices the sign, much less finds it amusing. Thus, the sign constitutes one of Gus’s attempts to impose a little intellectual sophistication on the rough and tumble outfit and the little border town where they live. Yet, by the time his body and the sign make it back to Texas, the motto and almost everything else is gone. This suggests the difficulty of imposing a sense of refinement on a life of wild work and violence.

Moreover, it’s impossible to escape the fact that all four of the names on the sign wear off by the end of the novel. Call has to carve Gus’s initials into the backside of the board to turn the sign into a grave marker. Like the sign, life is fragile and susceptible to accident and disaster, a harsh lesson that the drive has reinforced time and again. Neither the sign nor the company can go back to the way they were before, reminding readers that life is fleeting and full of hardship and that even legends like Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae are mortal.

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Sign Symbol Timeline in Lonesome Dove

The timeline below shows where the symbol Sign appears in Lonesome Dove. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8
American Mythology Theme Icon
The Good Life  Theme Icon
Two riders approach from the east. They stop for a minute to read the sign Augustus painted, over the course of a few years, on an old door. Initially, it... (full context)
Chapter 23
American Mythology Theme Icon
Luck, Fate, and Chance Theme Icon
...mules—Greasy and Kick Boy—to the wagon, planning to ride back into town to retrieve his sign and his sourdough starter. Jasper—who is afraid that he will drown in a river—asks him... (full context)
Luck, Fate, and Chance Theme Icon
The Good Life  Theme Icon
Feminine Strength Theme Icon
In town, Augustus pries his sign off the Hat Creek corral, but he ends up leaving his disintegrating sourdough pot. Then... (full context)
Chapter 102
American Mythology Theme Icon
The Good Life  Theme Icon
...and destroys the buggy in his headlong flight. Call brought Augustus’s Hat Creek Cattle Company sign with him, and now he fashions it into a sledge that he hitches to the... (full context)
American Mythology Theme Icon
The Good Life  Theme Icon
...Orchard and buries Gus’s body. Then he puts up the last splintery remnant of the sign—which says “Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium”—as a marker. He quickly realizes that it... (full context)