Let's take a look at some of the leading causes of death for cowboys and their horses:
- Getting gored by a bull
- Drowning in a river
- Getting shot, accidentally or otherwise, by a bullet
- Getting shot, probably on purpose, by an arrow
- Hanged for stealing horses
- Castrated
- Scalped
- Dying of lung cancer
- Made into bacon
All of these things happen to the cowboys—not to mention the horses and pigs—in Lonesome Dove. The moral? Being a cowboy is a dangerous life. Death is always right around the corner.
Questions About Mortality
- Why are burial rituals important, even when the men are on the move?
- Were any of the deaths on the trail preventable?
- Why do the men choose to go on the cattle drive even knowing how dangerous it can be?
- Why does Gus choose to die at the end of the book?