Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

TOTW 16/07: Did Alma Jr. know Ennis was gay?

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Brokeback_Dev:
Wow, all these responses are all so interesting, and different.  I'm not sure whether or not I believe Alma Jr. knew Ennis was gay. At least not as early as the bar scene when she said to Cassie "maybe he's not the marrying kind."   I think if anything she might have known when she came to Ennis' trailer, way out in the middle of nowhere, to let him know that she was getting married.  It was to be a June wedding and she was hopin he would be there.   By that time he was so all alone.  He had nothing.  His life was dispair and he may have found confidence in his little girl to share his pain with about loosing his Jack.  He loved her so much, and she was the only one he truly trusted with his heart.

pnwDUDE:

--- Quote from: Penthesilea on November 26, 2007, 10:09:36 am ---Did Alma Jr. know Ennis was gay?

--- End quote ---

Yes.

And Katie, the story of your father is beautiful then painfully tragic. I'm glad your father had some good years and he's very lucky to have the family who opened their arms to him and his partner despite the struggle homosexuals endured during those years.
When I left my wife and met the man of my dreams, we too felt like we had to live as brothers to be accepted in the rural community we live, and it was 1990. Turns out, it was all in our head. Like your dad, we have a very loving and accepting family (all red neck and most to the right of issues) and a tolerant and accepting group of people (all straight) we live around and interact with on an almost daily basis.
Thanks again for your story.

Brad

jstephens9:
Sue,

I am so glad that your shared this period of time in your life with us. I think people telling us things like this open the world up for so many of us. Hearing what someone has been through, how they reacted to it, what their thoughts were, etc. are more valuable than any book, any class, or anything else we can ever read. I have always been a firm believer in the idea that the only way you truly can feel or know something is to live it which you truly did. I work in a university setting where there are so many teachers (professors) teaching about things that they have only read about that were written by scholars who probably never lived it either. I never will forget my sociology classes where I read about homosexuality and was taught about it. It was so obvious that these people had absolutely no idea what it was really like. They had never lived it. Another example of this is that I have several very good friends who are fireman. I have heard from each of them how people will come and teach them about firefighting. And guess what, these people who are teaching have never even been in a burning building. The fireman resent it and I can completely understand why. I know sometimes I get long winded, but you sharing this REAL story of your life and how you saw your dad and his partner means you lived it, you saw it with your own eyes, and felt it with your own senses.

Jack

ProwlAmongUs:
Yes, I think she knew her dad was gay, but I don't think she was able to put a label to it in her mind. I believe out of all the characters except Jack, she understood Ennis better than anyone. Her quiet understanding and love for her father is apparent to the point of being protective of him when Cassie enters his life. She was progressive in her thinking for her age and for the time period, but again, was probably ignorant of the terms and what those terms entailed. It would be normal for someone her age at that time and place to "see the trees, but be confused by the forest." Hey, when I was her age, I still thought "gay" meant something fun and exciting, and that was a few years after 1963, although not many.

Katie77:
Thank you all very much for your comments on my post.....

To tell you the truth, I am still soul searching.....did I know??...did Alma Jnr know????

I guess the bottom line is, she DID NOT know, but she obviously knew threre was something about her dad that she could not quite put her finger on, but knew whatever it was it had a hold on him and was responsible for the sadness and loneliness he was feeling....

Sad to say, Alma Jnr, probably would not have realized the full true story about her dad, until after he had gone, and when she would have found the shirts hanging in his closet....then, it would become clear to her and she would finally understand.

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