As for Ennis needing to be pushed, didn't Jack push for 20 years? How much pushing is he expected to do?
I don't think Jack pushed enough for somebody like Ennis. They hardly talked about their situation. Think of their last trip - after 20 years Jack still goes with Ennis' BS to tell each other lies just to keep up appearances - not towards the society or any people they know otherwise, but just among them two, in the middle of nowhere! Jack bringing up so much courage to just say that he misses Ennis tells me that Jack was shit-scarred himself. Not scarred of being killed for being gay but just scarred of Ennis' reaction, which means to me that he was an extremely insecure person (and other reasons as mentioned above already). He had his outburst(s), but they happen only when he's so desperate and hurting that his usual common sense is totally knocked out. And he calms down quite quickly - see "Damn you, Ennis". I kind of know this because i'm absolutely the same kind of person... I take it and take it and take it and at some point blow a gasket but the problem is not getting solved because i get passive again quite quickly. And this just cannot be the right way to discuss painful issues. I learnt that i have to force myself to set up a situation to be able to talk calmly about such issues, which is not easy at all. It's like turning yourself inside out and stepping out on grounds you're not familiar with, it drains me of all energy afterwards. Sometimes i succeed to get my point across and achieve some sort of agreement and sometimes i come to agree with my counterpart that he's right. But at least there is some conversation going on. Jack and Ennis - they did not talk.
