TOTW 10/08: Jack's hang-ups - or lack thereof

[Penthesilea]

We've discussed Ennis crippling fears often. Understandable, given that Ennis is the one who internalized homophobia to an extent that the thought of wo men living together elicits only a „No way“ from him; and second he's the main character of both movie and story.

But what about Jack? What are his hang-ups and insecurities? Some of them clearly evolve around Ennis. He's afraid to go too far, to send Ennis into panic mode and thus drive him away. But apart from Ennis? He's actively hitting on Jimbo, he rode more than bulls (in the short story) during their four year hiatus, he found ways to spend money on his buying trips, drove to Mexico to hire a prostitute and he had another fella he wanted to build a cabin with in LF.

From the beginning he seems pretty comfortable with his sexuality. But yet he replies „Me neiter“ to Ennis's comment of not being queer. Only for Ennis's sake?
He marries Lureen. And stays married to her throughout his life.
He tries to fullfill the image of the tough cowboy, which clearly includes heterosexuality (given the time and place). And I'm sure nobody of us could picture Jack as a rainbow flag carrying advocate of gay rights.


So what are Jack's hang-ups (not only) regarding his sexuality?

[Monika]

I´m sure Jack has hang ups as well, after all he married Lureen and has a child with her. I never thought Jack was very open about it at all, it just seems so because we compare him to Ennis who is cautious in the extreme. But Jack seems to be aware of that it is a good idea of being careful, like in the bar when he notices people talking about him after he hit on the cowboy, and he quickly leaves. I don´t think he doubts that being gay can be dangerous, but simply that he thinks it´s worth the risk.(something I admire him for)

I don´t see a reason to why he would doubt Ennis´s story either, I´m sure he alredy has heard stories like that before given the time he was raised in. I think that when Jack asks Ennis "did you see this?" it´s a questions of concern for Ennis and I think Jack gets a new understanding of Ennis.

To get back to Lureen. This is Jack´s biggest mistake in life, especially as he seems to be more aware of who he is and his desires than Ennis, and still he gets married. At times I can feel that maybe he wouldn´t have left Lureen after all, if Ennis indeed had said yes. We can never be sure of this because he is never put to the test.
 Jack was a dreamer but very little of his dreams came true. He never started a ranch and he never left Lureen. Perhaps he was more of a dreamer than a doer.

[optom3]

I think Jack's  biggest hang-ups were reality and Ennis. If Ennis had been willing to commit early on Jack probably would not have married.There would have been no reason for him too.It was not even as if he wanted kids.He unoubtedly had a higher sex drive than Ennis,hence the trips to Mexico,but I do not see that as a hang-up.
In view of the no commitment from Ennis he saw Lureens money as a way of esacaping at least one area of his life he was unhappy with,the grinding poverty he had come from.I do not mean that to seem as cold hearted and calculating as it sounds.I am pretty sure one gesture from Ennis and he woud have given it all up to live with him.I guess no Ennis and no money was too much to bear.
As far as his childhood goes ,I guess there would have been some hang-ups associated with his father,but not sufficient to stop him living the life of his dreams.He was forever the optimist,and as long as you have your dreams,that can make up for many a shortfall in reality.Take away the dreams and reality then bites hard.
Jack in the last meeting with Ennis surely feels the last remnants of his dream,get blown away on the wind.It is at this point that that his dreams maybe become his biggest hang-up.Hence his explosion,reality sucks.So could it be that Jacks dreams,once his greatest comfort,finally become his greatest hang-up, ultimately,the shattering of which,leads to his death.For Jack I do believe up untill then,hope had always sprung eternal.
He has I believe already died emotionally,when his dreams of a sweet life with Ennis died.All that remains is the physical death,which seems almost a forgone conclusion.Unbeknown to him,Ennis by trying to protect his lover has in fact done completely the reverse.Therein lies the horrrendous tragedy which haunts,Ennis and will continue to do so,and also us the viewer.Never has the phrase,we always hurt the one we love most,resonated more devastatingly.
It could be argued that whisky is a problem for Jack,but again had his dreams come to fruition,there may have been little need to drink so much.I am sure alcohol was a way to deaden the pain.In much the same way a his initial clowning around is in part a mask he uses to hide his true feelings for Ennis.

Reality therefore is ultimately the biggest hang-up for Jack.He is unable to deal with it.He hides behind,alcohol,sex trips to Mexico,marriage,clown masks,and dreams.But behind all those maskes is the one constant,his love for Ennis.His greatest joy and ultimately his undoing.

[Monika]

But behind all those maskes is the one constant,his love for Ennis.His greatest joy and ultimately his undoing.

that made me wanna cry all of a sudden. Beautifully put. Sometimes it does feel as if it would have been better for both of them of they´d never met.


I liked your conclusions about jack´s hang-ups being his dreams and his reality because he never managed the melt the two together. And like you say, when he realises that himself his spirit dies and shortly afterwards his body.

[optom3]

that made me wanna cry all of a sudden. Beautifully put. Sometimes it does feel as if it would have been better for both of them of they´d never met.


I liked your conclusions about jack´s hang-ups being his dreams and his reality because he never managed the melt the two together. And like you say, when he realises that himself his spirit dies and shortly afterwards his body.

Thankyou for your lovely comments.
Is that not the beauty of it though.We are lost in the tragedy of their meeting.We the viewer ache to shout and scream at them as we watch it unfold before us.Yet at the same time are  simultaneously rendered speechless, by the hold they have over us and our emotions.What a paradox.For the first time ,the film led me to truly understand the phrase,dumbstruck.It is like those terrible nightmares you sometimes have, when you open your mouth and no sound is emitted.That is how I felt when I first watched the film,with tears streaming down my face.
It was like a moving,living, breathing version of that painting,the scream,watching dreams become nightmares.

[myprivatejack]

Thankyou for your lovely comments.
Is that not the beauty of it though.We are lost in the tragedy of their meeting.We the viewer ache to shout and scream at them as we watch it unfold before us.Yet at the same time are  simultaneously rendered speechless, by the hold they have over us and our emotions.What a paradox.For the first time ,the film led me to truly understand the phrase,dumbstruck.It is like those terrible nightmares you sometimes have, when you open your mouth and no sound is emitted.That is how I felt when I first watched the film,with tears streaming down my face.
It was like a moving,living, breathing version of that painting,the scream,watching dreams become nightmares.

Beautiful post,Optom¡ It's what most of us have felt sometimes watching BBM,but indeed you've put it into words much better...
Coming back to the topic,I really think that all Jack's hang-ups were,as you said,Ennis and reality.And I'd add that not having a real support in his daily life to win reality,on one side,and Ennis fears,on the other side.He had nobody by his side who believed in him and in his possibilities,neither as son,nor as husband or father...And the only one who could believe it-Ennis-was his greater enemy in this sense;it wasn't a question of believing in him,but to believe in what he dreamed about-or better,to admit it...-.In spite of this,or maybe because of this,Jack had during all his life enough touch as not to put Ennis against the ropes,obliging him to decide something;his main fear was to fear Ennis so much as he could run  away from him. Maybe this behaviour was the reason of his progressive lost of dreams and illusions and lead to a final confrontation that must take place much before,IMO.Yes,surely Jack was a dreamer much more than a doer,but his own circumstances made him lost his strenght to fight for what he wanted and get it in the end...  
Ah¡ Pentesilea,you said:"And I'm sure nobody of us could picture Jack as a rainbow flag carrying advocate of gay rights."Of course not,but he could be a kind of rough predecessor.In the sense that,for me at least,fighting for having a dignity as a same-sex couple in the difficult environment of the rural  60´s America  could be the most similar to what we understand this now.I don't know if this makes sense...

[BlissC]

Aw, Jeez! I can see this week's gonna be a tough one. It's already set me off again sniffling just reading the comments so far! 

He was forever the optimist,and as long as you have your dreams,that can make up for many a shortfall in reality.Take away the dreams and reality then bites hard.
Jack in the last meeting with Ennis surely feels the last remnants of his dream,get blown away on the wind.It is at this point that that his dreams maybe become his biggest hang-up.Hence his explosion,reality sucks.So could it be that Jacks dreams,once his greatest comfort,finally become his greatest hang-up, ultimately,the shattering of which,leads to his death.For Jack I do believe up until then,hope had always sprung eternal.
He has I believe already died emotionally,when his dreams of a sweet life with Ennis died.All that remains is the physical death,which seems almost a forgone conclusion.Unbeknown to him,Ennis by trying to protect his lover has in fact done completely the reverse.Therein lies the horrendous tragedy which haunts,Ennis and will continue to do so,and also us the viewer.Never has the phrase,we always hurt the one we love most,resonated more devastatingly.

I agree. Reality was Jack's greatest single hang-up. As you say Optom, by their final meeting Jack has already died emotionally, and that's yet another of the tragedies that unfolds through the course of the story - the fact that we first meet a young man who's a dreamer, and watch as year by year those dreams get crushed ever further away and unattainable, and as you say, the physical death does seem almost a foregone conclusion. There is no other possible conclusion to the story.

behind all those masks is the one constant,his love for Ennis. His greatest joy and ultimately his undoing.

*gulp* I'm so not gonna cry again....okay then so I am...

We are lost in the tragedy of their meeting.We the viewer ache to shout and scream at them as we watch it unfold before us.Yet at the same time are  simultaneously rendered speechless, by the hold they have over us and our emotions.What a paradox.For the first time ,the film led me to truly understand the phrase,dumbstruck.It is like those terrible nightmares you sometimes have, when you open your mouth and no sound is emitted.That is how I felt when I first watched the film,with tears streaming down my face.
It was like a moving,living, breathing version of that painting,the scream,watching dreams become nightmares.

Dumbstruck. That sums it up perfectly. I've only ever watched the film in silence. I could never put into spoken words anyhow the emotions it makes me feel. Having said that, since the second time I've watched the film I always speak three words, or rather whisper them, because it's my own private promise, right at the end of the film. "Jack, I swear..." I'm not the swearing kind either, but...

Back to Jack's hang-ups though, there's an interesting line in the story, right at the beginning about Jack - "he was crazy to be somewhere, anywhere else than Lightning Flat". I guess part of it's maybe his hang-ups about his father, and I can't help but feel that's part of the reason he's "crazy" over Ennis. He tells Ennis up on the mountain, "Can't please my old man, no way", and he tells Ennis he never went to see him rodeo. Part of me feels he gave up hope of ever trying to please his father, to impress him, but he he transfers that need to be approved of, to do whatever he can to please, to Ennis. Cook for Ennis, do his washing, drive 14 hours to be with Ennis, drive straight there when he heard about Ennis's divorce...A lot of it was obviously just wanting desperately to be with Ennis, but I can't help but feel that there was an element of wanting Ennis's approval, Ennis's respect. He didn't get it from his wife, or his father-in-law, or even he hints from his son's teacher. Ennis was the one person who accepted him.

[optom3]

BlissC that is such a good point you made about wanting approval.It is glaringly obvious when I think of it.He is like a child in many ways,desperate to please and gain some recognition.It should have slapped me in the face as I am very much like that.My father had such high standards for us,his approval was almost impossible to gain.
Only recently has he said how proud he is of me.Every relationship I have been in,bar one I have acted as Jack,desperately seeking,the pat on the back.Always doing the running around.
So I agree 100% it is a big hang-up of his.Undoubtedly having its roots in his damaging relationship  with his father.Jake acts it so brilliantly as well,now I look at it from that angle,all doe eyed and silent pleading.Yes part of it is love,but that is inextricably bound up with wanting approval.The two go hand in hand.

[Katie77]

The posts here are really great and really sum Jack up perfectly.

I have always wondered about what kind of conclusion Jack and Ennis came to after the last lake scene, and if it was the end of Jack's dreams.

The emotional outburst from Ennis, was the first time he had ever let his true feelings and insecurities out, he was telling Jack, in a round about way, that "its because of you, Jack, I'm this way"......he was finally telling him that he loved him (in a round about way), telling him that its because of what there is between the two of them, that has controlled his whole life.

I have always thought, that instead of being the end of Jack's dreams, it would have been some reassurance that Ennis felt exactly the same way about him as he did....

We dont know what happened between the two of them, after the grasping clutch on the ground, or what was said in reply to what Ennis said, but the one consolation we do have, is that Jack did not die wondering.......he did know how Ennis felt.

[BlissC]

Jake acts it so brilliantly as well,now I look at it from that angle,all doe eyed and silent pleading.Yes part of it is love,but that is inextricably bound up with wanting approval.The two go hand in hand.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Optom. Jack talks, Jack's always talking, always acting the clown, but it's what he doesn't say that's much more telling, and Jake portrays that so brilliantly.