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The Hidden Ocean

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Front-Ranger:
Why should marine and nautical references appear in a story about Wyoming? There is a very good reason. Let's examine some of these references and explore why they're there.

The first marine reference appears early in the story. I like the way the screenwriters subtly emphasized it. Jack is introducing himself to Ennis with a handshake and Ennis replies by just saying his first name. Jack calls him on the omission immediately: "Your folks just stop at Ennis?" Ennis looks down as he reluctantly says his last name, "Del Mar" with emphasis on the "DEL." As if he were saying he was FROM the ocean, not of the ocean. Why should Ennis want to hide his last name or distance himself from it? We shall see.

This is a random revelation from the Castro showing.

Front-Ranger:
Meditation: Ennis on the beach.

Front-Ranger:
The second marine reference. I'll give you a visual hint:

Front-Ranger:
I'm sure there are other marine references that I'm passing over. But these are a few that struck me as I was watching the movie on the big screen at the Castro Theater.

On the day that Jack and Ennis come down from the mountain, their communications are strained and misfire as badly as the spark plugs on the old truck Jack drives. Then, they part, and Jack swerves around Ennis who is going off on foot. As Jack zooms by, we see an old truck with a one-horse trailer parked by the road. The truck is a solid aquamarine color and the trailer is dark gray.

Later on, when Jack comes back the next year to apply for a job again there (in vain, it turns out) the truck/trailer are still parked there!

Front-Ranger:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on September 18, 2007, 01:22:54 pm ---I'm sure there are other marine references that I'm passing over.

--- End quote ---
And one of them, in the story, is the reference to the doomed submarine, the Thresher. The fact that the sub is named after a prairie harvesting machine shows how tightly Annie Proulx has meshed her metaphors in the story.

Sometimes the metaphors come so thick and heavy that I think I will drown looking up!!

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