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

Ennis and Old Man Twist

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Brown Eyes:
Heya,

Yes, Chris, I agree, this question leads to a lot of speculation and "what if" type questions.  But, I still think it's fun to imagine.  By the way, your contributions are always welcome!  You too, Katherine, of course.
 :D

One major factor that I think would play into any interaction between Ennis and John Twist is that Mr. Twist is used to being the tough guy on the ranch and is probably pretty comfortable pushing people around.  It seems unlikely that Ennis would let himself be pushed around by Mr. Twist on a regular basis.  He gives in on the ashes question, well obviously for a number of reasons, but again, it's hard to imagine Ennis backing down over more mundane things.  Essentially, I think that there'd be a lot of competition for "stud duck" status on the ranch.  I don't think Jack would step in much here... I get the sense that he was pretty intimidated by his Dad.  I get the sense that for better or worse, Jack and Mrs. Twist would always be the mediators/ peacemakers or at least caught in the middle.  You get the sense tht Mrs. Twist is already caught in the middle in the Lightning Flat scene.  Her face just before Ennis leaves and as Mr. Twist is reiterating his demand that Jack go in the family plot just shows how torn she is between the two (not contradicting Mr. Twist, but clearly heartbroken that Ennis can't fulfill Jack's final wish).  You can sense she fears a confrontation.   I love how subversive she really is though... and pretty much right in front of her overbearing husband.

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: atz75 on May 23, 2006, 12:30:59 am --- It seems unlikely that Ennis would let himself be pushed around by Mr. Twist on a regular basis.  He gives in on the ashes question, well obviously for a number of reasons, but again, it's hard to imagine Ennis backing down over more mundane things. Essentially, I think that there'd be a lot of competition for "stud duck" status on the ranch.  I don't think Jack would step in much here... I get the sense that he was pretty intimidated by his Dad. 

--- End quote ---

That's interesting, Amanda. You think of Ennis as extremely assertive, but I have a different image of him. Yes, when pressed occasionally he lashes out: beats up the obnoxious bikers and tries to beat up the guy in the truck. On the other hand, when we first meet him he is so shy he can hardly carry on a conversation. And even as he gets older and less shy he's still quietly courteous if not outright deferential to almost everyone else we see him in contact with: Jack (except for those two times in 20 years), Aguirre, the Basque guy (he sure isn't very assertive about the missing powdered milk and spuds) Monroe, Lureen, the Twists. He's only confrontational with Alma a couple of times, and then  in a pretty typical marital way. He's downright passive with Cassie except for his rudeness at the end (and his breakup style is passive to a fault). He's never anything but gentle with his daughters.

Jack is at least as assertive as Ennis, arguably more so. The scenario you describe, Amanda, of Ennis and Mr. Twist competing and Jack staying out of it -- I can more easily imagine things the other way around! Jack snaps at the bartender in the Jimbo scene. He shows on Thanksgiving that he won't back down from a bullying older man. For that matter, he doesn't back down from Ennis, either. And if his dad has mean to him, it doesn't stop him from going back for frequent visits -- he seems resentful, but not intimidated. "Me and Ennis Del Mar are gonna come back here and whip this ranch into shape" sounds a bit challenging, even, implying as it does that the old man has let the ranch fall out of shape.

Penthesilea:

--- Quote ---Can anybody imagine how Ennis and John Twist could have co-existed on the same ranch?
--- End quote ---

Well, I can. Co-existed is the key word in your sentence. I can imagine them both to ignore each other as much as possible for years, living on the same ground in a "Don't ask - don't tell"- mode.
It wouldn't be a peaceful coexistence, but a tense one.

Old man Twist on the one side and Jack and Ennis on the other would kind of interdepend: Old Twist needed someone to help him run the ranch. And two persons would've been even better; particularly  Ennis and Jack weren't slackers, but "brought up to hard work". I can imagine that Old Twist would have hated Ennis's guts (I think he hated each and every person on the planet), but appreciated his attidude towards work. And he would have known that he can't afford to antagonize with him.

Ennis on the other side is not a provoking person. I don't see him competing with Old Twist, but avoiding him as much as possible. I guess on this "ignoring each other as much as possible basis" it would have been possible for them to co-exist on the same ranch. Like a way of ceasefire.

A sweet life? Yes, in comparison to what they actually had.
What might have been...  :'( 

Jeff Wrangler:
I noticed, too, that Jack is "crazy" to be away from Lightning Flat--and his old man--but I wonder if he starts talking about bringing Ennis there to turn the family ranch around because he starts to realize that it would be financially impossible for him and Ennis to set up a little cow and calf operation anywhere else. The Twist spread might have been run-down, but at least it was already a going concern, so there was no need to buy land, stock, and equipment.

On the other hand, maybe his talk of bringing Ennis to Lightning Flat was just what the old man implied--just talk. It gives me no  pleasure to think that.  :(

Mikaela:

--- Quote ---Can anybody imagine how Ennis and John Twist could have co-existed on the same ranch?
--- End quote ---
Like several others I can see that, too. Co-existing. Ennis isn't confrontational unless provoked into rage and fear by remarks that he deems to touch upon his sexuality, - and he isn't assertive in my view. But he sure *does* know how to be stubborn: That *look* he gives Alma when she protests him dumping their daughters off at the store. The fact that he keeps up the "way the hell out in the back of nowhere" arrangement when Jack wants so much more for 16 long years. I can see Ennis living on that ranch and determinedly avoiding old man Twist for just as long, given that the old man doesn't provoke any confrontation on his part.

And Mr. Twist is just as stubborn. He's stubbornly mean and bitter, all set on not being the one who blinks first, all set on never seeing any silver lining. Even when looking only at what we get to know about him in the movie. He's apparently been consistently unrelenting in his refusal (for whatever reason) to support and behave with any degree of human decency towards his own son, even when that son was just a teenager.
I think his coffee cup in the one scene where we get to meet him in the film says it all. He spits into the cup in contempt while talking to Ennis. Then he holds on to the thing all the time Ennis is upstairs. He doesn't push it away, doesn't hand it to his wife to put it in the sink..... he holds on to it. It's as if he wants to remain armed and waits to see if Ennis will do or say anything when he comes back down that requires him to demonstrate his contempt once more. So yes, I can see old man Twist living on a ranch with Ennis, never backing down from showing some sort of disdain should Ennis come directly in his way, never showing recognition for the work done, armed and ready for a confrontation, but not going out of his way to take any notice of Ennis or make trouble as long as Ennis kept himself at arm's length. A ceasefire, just like Pehthesilea says.

But what a strain on Jack and his mother, living inbetween!



--- Quote ---I think it's interesting that Jack kept mentioning bringing Ennis to Lightning Flat.
--- End quote ---

I've always thought that to be very sad. I've pictured Jack bursting and overflowing with emotions and the need to talk about Ennis and his hopes for a common future, to say Ennis's name out loud to somebody, *anybody*..... And he always had to keep silent and keep it all under wraps. But his parent's was the one place for him to let out a little steam, to not tell it all but at least to say *something*, and what a tragedy that he had noone else than his horrible father for that! (I've imagined Jack's mother and father both reading much more in his face and his tone than what he actually ever said in words, too; - hence their seemingly knowing reaction to Ennis when they finally meet him - the father so contemptful, the mother so full of understanding and affection.) Over the years, I've imagined it became a habit of Jack's to repeat himself on the subject. As his hopes died, perhaps it slowly became a kind of empty mantra that he still couldn't help repeating - not even when he was seriously considering leaving Ennis and forming a closer connection to Randall. Because I can see Ennis living on that ranch, but I just can't see Randall ever doing it, nor can I really see Jack being truly serious about moving up there with him. Granted we know next to nothing about him, but he just doesn't seem all that used to hard work and privation, brought up too the stoic life. 

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