I have to say my ideas on this have gone back and forth over the past two years.. At first I thought it was
a gay love affair. That turned into gay love. I thought that Jack was gay, knew he was gay, and fell in love with
Ennis.. The idea I had of Ennis was that he was bi-sexual. He never attached the feeling of love to what they
did. He was homophobic so therefor scared to ever make that move toward anyone else..Jack had to make
that move, for the relationship to happen...He never had the nerve to approach any other man..He did however
like what they did..having sex..This is to me the story of the book. He would have gone on with his life like it was even before the divorce, if Alma had not herself made that choice..He was not a doer. He was a follower..
The movie I believe made a different view of it. It showed the men as falling in love, but fear of the
societal influences, including his fathers intervention, made Ennis afraid to admit how he felt, until Jack was dead.
I dont know if he ever let himself believe it was love. So I guess I am saying the movie made it a universal love story, unfulfilled and the book a story of gay love unfulfilled.