Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
TOTW 17/07: Why didn't Jack offer Ennis a ride when they got down the mountain?
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on December 04, 2007, 10:10:58 pm ---Your map analysis makes sense, but...Ten Sleep is the closest town to Brokenback Mountain, and there are several other clues that Signal is Ten Sleep. For one thing, the most prominent geologic feature is Signal Butte, just outside of town.
--- End quote ---
Great point. I don't mean to put off your analysis and that of Pent, because we really don't know where they are because there is no "Signal",WY or a "Brokeback Mountain" located in WY., they were made up. The idea that Brokeback Mountain is in the Big Horn region is just a valid as mine. But I have a restless mind and I like to look for geographical clues. Fortunately AP did give us some clues in the short story. I use the short story as canon in this analysis, if you use the movie, you can come to different conclusions.
Follow me along, and if you don't agree its all in fun anyway!
(To start, call up a detailed map of Wyoming, a topographical map that shows the communities with pops over 300 and all of the major physiographical features such as mountain ranges, creeks, the national forests, and rural roads.)
My assumption is that "Signal" is not Ten Sleep, but it actually should be a community near Dubois in the Wind River Ranges. Perhaps Burris or Crowheart. Why?
1) We know that the boys were tending to Aguirre's sheep on allotments. That means Brokeback Mountain is located inside National Forest lands.
Joe Aguirre gives them his point of view, "Forest Service got designated camp sites on the allotments." Indicating to me that Brokeback Mountain is located inside a National Forest that allows private sheep owners to use the forests service lands for seasonal grazing. A common practice out west.
2) We know that after shovedown the boys ate in Dubois,WY. In the 1967 scene in the Siesta motel Ennis says to Jack, "That summer, when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puck, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois."
So they had to be reasonably near Dubois,WY after the sheep were trucked off. If they were in the Ten Sleep area after shovedown, it just doesnt make any sense to drive the 175 miles plus to eat in Dubois. They would eat somewhere close to Aguirre's base of operations in Signal.
3) The National Forest lands near Dubois are in the areas where the Wind River ranges, the Gros Ventres, and the Absorokas blend together.These forests are the Bridger-Teton and the Shoshone.
4) We know also from the short story that Brokeback Mountain itself is north of Fremont County,WY.
"Ennis, why are you rootin through them post cards?"
"Scene a Brokeback Mountain."
"Over in Fremont County?"
"No, north a here"
I take from the story that Ennis is probably shopping in Riverton, WY which is in Fremont County, although I admit that is not made clear in the text. Why would the store owner say "over in Fremont County"? I think that she meant outside the immediate vicinity of the city but still within the same county as Riverton. I noticed in my summers in Montana that a lot of natives to the N. Rockies will refer to rural lands outside the cities as the "county".
So, what are likely spots for Brokeback Mountain just north of Fremont county within easy drive of Dubois?
That would be the section of the Shoshone National Forest north of the Wind River Indian Reservation (there is also a section of the Shoshone south of the reservation) up towards Park County, WY. Perhaps not far from where the Continental Divide turns south near Brook Lake.
The Continental Divide! What a metaphor for what happened to the boys that summer.They crossed over the "divide", but couldn't face the reality of the new territory they had crossed into, hence the tragedy of the story.
For what its worth, that's my take.........
Penthesilea:
--- Quote from: brokeplex on December 05, 2007, 10:46:34 am ---Great point. I don't mean to put off your analysis and that of Pent, because we really don't know where they are because there is no "Signal",WY or a "Brokeback Mountain" located in WY., they were made up. The idea that Brokeback Mountain is in the Big Horn region is just a valid as mine. But I have a restless mind and I like to look for geographical clues. Fortunately AP did give us some clues in the short story. I use the short story as canon in this analysis, if you use the movie, you can come to different conclusions.
--- End quote ---
Your comments are not taken as putting off others. Part of the fun is to discuss and argue back and forth. If we all had the same opinion, this board would die down soon. :)
--- Quote ---2) We know that after shovedown the boys ate in Dubois,WY. In the 1967 scene in the Siesta motel Ennis says to Jack, "That summer, when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puck, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois."
So they had to be reasonably near Dubois,WY after the sheep were trucked off. If they were in the Ten Sleep area after shovedown, it just doesnt make any sense to drive the 175 miles plus to eat in Dubois. They would eat somewhere close to Aguirre's base of operations in Signal.
--- End quote ---
Agreed with this, regarding the story. Dubois is too far from Ten Sleep.
--- Quote ---4) We know also from the short story that Brokeback Mountain itself is north of Fremont County,WY.
"Ennis, why are you rootin through them post cards?"
"Scene a Brokeback Mountain."
"Over in Fremont County?"
"No, north a here"
I take from the story that Ennis is probably shopping in Riverton, WY which is in Fremont County, although I admit that is not made clear in the text. Why would the store owner say "over in Fremont County"? I think that she meant outside the immediate vicinity of the city but still within the same county as Riverton. I noticed in my summers in Montana that a lot of natives to the N. Rockies will refer to rural lands outside the cities as the "county".
--- End quote ---
But you're wrong with this. When Ennis buys the postcard at the end of the story, he's in Signal!
At their last meeting, Ennis says, he'd been puttin the blocks to a woman who worked part-time at the Wolf Ears bar in Signal where he was working now for Stoutamire's cow and calf outfit,
...
The card buying scene from the story:
A few weeks later on the Saturday he threw all Stoutamire's dirty horse blankets into the back of his pickup [...] he stepped into Higgins gift shop
Then follows the dialog:
"Ennis, why are you rootin through them post cards?"
"Scene a Brokeback Mountain."
"Over in Fremont County?"
"No, north a here"
So Ennis is clearly not in Fremont Country when this dialog takes place. He is in Signal. And if Signal = Ten Sleep, his line "No, north a here" makes much sense, because directly north of Ten Sleep (="here", where he is right at the moment) are the Big Horn mountains (and there is Brokenback Mountain). And there's the South Brokenback Road, which begins at the end of Ten Sleep.
Front-Ranger:
Brokeplex, you need to come to our Roundup next June at the foot of Brokenback Mountain in Wyoming!!
Here, read all about it:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,7420.0/all.html
Last time I was there in July, this sign was missing!
Artiste:
Tnaks Front-Ranger!
What does 1415 mean?
Hugs!
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: Penthesilea on December 05, 2007, 12:06:05 pm ---Your comments are not taken as putting off others. Part of the fun is to discuss and argue back and forth. If we all had the same opinion, this board would die down soon. :)
Agreed with this, regarding the story. Dubois is too far from Ten Sleep.
But you're wrong with this. When Ennis buys the postcard at the end of the story, he's in Signal!
At their last meeting, Ennis says, he'd been puttin the blocks to a woman who worked part-time at the Wolf Ears bar in Signal where he was working now for Stoutamire's cow and calf outfit,
...
The card buying scene from the story:
A few weeks later on the Saturday he threw all Stoutamire's dirty horse blankets into the back of his pickup [...] he stepped into Higgins gift shop
Then follows the dialog:
"Ennis, why are you rootin through them post cards?"
"Scene a Brokeback Mountain."
"Over in Fremont County?"
"No, north a here"
So Ennis is clearly not in Fremont Country when this dialog takes place. He is in Signal. And if Signal = Ten Sleep, his line "No, north a here" makes much sense, because directly north of Ten Sleep (="here", where he is right at the moment) are the Big Horn mountains (and there is Brokenback Mountain). And there's the South Brokenback Road, which begins at the end of Ten Sleep.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for your reply, I hadn't considered that Ennis might be in Signal when he was buying his postcard. I just looked again at the paragraph in the ss that tells of Ennis going to the gift shop and I don't see any references to the fact that it is in Signal. And even if it were, that still doesn't quite tell me where Signal and Brokeback Mountain would most likely be geographically located. And how do we deal with the fact that the boys ate in Dubois after shovedown? Its just way too long a drive from the Ten Sleep area to Dubois for Dubois to be a realistic spot for them to eat if Signal = Ten Sleep. But it makes sense if Signal was in Fremont County and Brokeback Mountain is just north of Dubois.
Its the reference to Dubois that to me tosses out the idea that Signal is Ten Sleep. Yes, Ten Sleep is near the Big Horn mountains, but nothing in the short story, which I am using as canon tells me that Brokeback Mountain is in the Big Horns. If you use the film as canon, you can come to a different conclusion. I think both are valid in their own ways.
I would love to come to the roundup in the Big Horns in June! I usually am in Texas until after July 4, and then I head up to Montana for 3-4 months, but maybe this next year I can head out early so I can see Brokenback Mountain.
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