The Lincoln Highway

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Lincoln Highway

When Billy introduces the Lincoln Highway as the route via which he and Emmett might retrace their mother’s footsteps and locate her in San Francisco, the highway is initially presented in its essential form as a concrete transcontinental roadway, but the highway becomes a symbol with greater layers and deeper significance as the novel progresses. After finding their mother’s postcards, Billy was able to deduce from their postmarks that she had traveled the highway as she mailed them to her sons after her departure from their home and their lives. To Billy, the highway symbolizes the possibility that he and Emmett may find her if only they retrace her steps by following the clues he believes she left for them. It is through Billy that Emmett hears of the highway for the first time. Emmett had planned to begin his new venture as a carpenter in Texas, where he thought the housing market promising enough to support the growth and success of his business venture.

The notion of San Francisco and the concept of the Lincoln Highway as introduced by Billy represents a novel future that Emmett had not considered, a complete change in their lives’ geographic trajectory as he had imagined it while in Salina. Through his discovery that his mother had traveled on it, in his pervasive interest in history and the greater significance and origins of those things that interest him, Billy has learned all about the Lincoln Highway. Billy has become attached to the idea of the highway and fascinated by the way it connects one coast to another. In the fondness he develops for Billy, Woolly also latches onto the idea of the highway, connecting it to Abraham Lincoln, for whom it was named, a figure who Woolly admires and to whom he holds a sentimental attachment. When they are forced to travel all the way to New York to retrieve Emmett’s car, he is not upset that they must travel in the opposite direction, away from San Francisco, because it means that they will be able to take the Lincoln Highway beginning in downtown Manhattan and travel across the country on it in its entirety.

The highway takes on mythic features as Emmett and Billy are continually thwarted in their attempts to retrieve the Studebaker and be on their way. The further they are thrown off course, the more Emmett and Billy cling to the notion that when the obstacles Duchess has placed in their way have been circumnavigated, they need only pick up the highway and begin their move as originally planned. There is an assurance about the route in its permanence and directness that renders it a constant in their minds. At the close of the novel, although practicality might dictate that they should simply travel south from the Adirondacks and pick up the Lincoln Highway in New Jersey, Emmett is moved to return to Times Square to begin their journey afresh.

Ultimately, the highway is a symbol of both connection and how new beginnings must always come out of old endings. The highway connects Emmett and Billy to their mother, their beginnings on the east coast to their brighter futures on the west coast. It also symbolizes the boys’ coming together to forge their futures together on the other side of the country, traveling together on the commonality of their fondness of and desire to reunite with their mother. It also symbolizes the dead ends of both Duchess and Woolly since the ends of their lives played out in familiar (and damaged) territories. Neither escaped their pasts enough to make it to the real beginning of a potential journey to a better life.

Professor Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers

Bringing together accounts of the lives of a diverse array of characters and historical figures from ancient history through to the invitation for the reader to include their own story within the provided blank pages, Professor Abernathe’s Compendium is the beloved lens through which Billy understands the world and the people around him. The book symbolizes Billy’s belief in the virtues and merits of the individuals whose lives are depicted in it, and his dedication to it reflects the powerful impact it holds for him. Billy’s propensity for sharing facts and historical information extends to his desire to share the contents of the book with those he meets. His enthusiasm for the book and the responses of others to it reveal important aspects of their character. Woolly is pleased to hear the stories read aloud to him, and he delights in the joy that the book brings to Billy, demonstrating a rare moment of composure and extroversion when he steps forward in Professor Abernathe’s office to introduce Billy and impress upon the author just how significant his work has been for the young man.

Ulysses is utterly transformed by the revelation that he shared so much in common with the great Ulysses of antiquity, and it is the conviction and faith Billy places in both the ancient Greek and the contemporary veteran that compels Ulysses to believe it is worthwhile for him to consider that he too might achieve the peace and reconciliation of the king of Ithaca. Duchess is irritated by Billy’s preoccupation with the book and his habit of incessantly sharing the details of the work with those around him. Duchess sees the book and Billy’s idolization of Professor Abernathe as an opportunity to crush Billy’s spirits, thinking that he will be disappointed to find Professor Abernathe does not have an office in the Empire State Building. When Duchess is discovered to be wrong, and Professor Abernathe subsequently initiates contact with Ulysses upon learning of his life story, the symbolism of the Compendium is solidified in the sense that the author’s assertions match his intentions, affirming the faith Billy has placed in him based up the values exuded in his book.

The section Professor Abernathe included in his Compendium titled “You” is a reflection of The Lincoln Highway itself as a story of heroes and adventurers. When Billy commences his writing of Emmett’s story in the blank section designated for You, he begins in the same place the initial chapter of the novel begins. In this manner, The Lincoln Highway could be interpreted as the final story that completes the Compendium.

Events and Figures in American History and Popular Culture

Historical figures and events in American history feature heavily throughout The Lincoln Highway. Through Professor Abernathe’s Compendium, Billy has learned about Daniel Boone, Thomas Edison, William Perry Fogg, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington, but it is through Woolly’s experience that American history is primarily interwoven in the narrative. The descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Woolly was raised in a family wherein appreciation of their own place in American history and of American history on a larger scale was paramount. The emphasis on Abraham Lincoln is consistently present through Woolly’s formative experience of family unification in the recitation of the Gettysburg Address along with the frequent references to Abraham Lincoln throughout the novel. Not only is the Lincoln Highway itself named after Abraham Lincoln, but it is at Lincoln Park in San Francisco that the July 4th Independence Day fireworks celebration is held, and this destination figures heavily in Billy’s mind as the place where they will reunite with their mother. Billy and Woolly develop a rapport through Billy’s familiarity with figures and events from American history, references that delight Woolly and to which he feels a genuine personal connection.