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

The Names

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Gabreya:
This may have been talked about before here but please bare with me on this. Oh, and this was once mentioned on the IMDb site for this movie. Unfortunately, it's no longer there. Oh, well.
Okay, now we all know that Ennis and Jack have some last names that are pretty wierd:Del Mar and Twist. I'm not trying to make fun of our boys, I'm just saying. Their last names are unusual. But, they may have some importance to the story.

I'm a dictionary bookworm and I read various Webster dictionaries at home and at school.
I've read that mar means damage, hurt, injure, disfigure, impair, etc. Also, in it, twist means bend, distort, deflect, interweave, etc. It was mentioned that the del word means lonely.
If you guys'll notice, the words mar and twist together means destruction and disaster. With those words together, they seem to imply the story's outcome of the two main characters' lives. It was said at IMDb that their last names seemed to describe their personalities. Del Mar seems to describe Ennis as very lonely and introverted while Twist displayed Jack as crazy and boistrous. And their was a debate where Annie Proulx used those names for her characters to show how they are and 'forshadowing' their fate. And their first names are really no different. Jack is a ver common name for a guy who has a strong exterior. Not that I'm saying that Ennis doesn't have a strong exterior. Jack is a typical name for someone who's manly and daring. For Ennis, his name is a little bit rare. His name is something that's more country and rather soft-like.

By the way, ironically, Heath and Jake's last names are pretty unique as well. Again, I'm not making fun of our beautiful boys. See, Ledger and Gyllenhaal are names you wouldn't normally hear everyday. Well, both of them have different heritages. These two actors have names that are very intricate, but in a good way.


Any thoughts about either of the names?

Front-Ranger:
I am certainly not a linguist but for me the name Del Mar means "from (or of) the sea" and has the same roots as the words marine, Mary, maritime, etc. The word Twist connotes to me the gyrations that a bullrider goes thru trying to stay on the bull, and also the twisted old pines on top of Brokenback Mountain. Twist also seems to me to be a combination of "try" and "wish" and Annie Proulx said that she liked names that are an amalgam of other words, as well as wordplay.

The names Ledger and Gyllenhaal seem to be opposites in several different ways. Gyllenhaal is a playful sounding name with lots of vowels; Ledger is a solid sounding name with more consonants.

Brown Eyes:
I love the topic of their names!  So poetic.

Gabreya, I think you're right on to notice that both the names have English connotations that imply something beyond the norm.

That "mar" means "damaged", "injured" or "disfigured"... just seems so powerful and important to Ennis in terms of his inner turmoil and the psychological damage he suffered as a child (exposed to the murder by his father).

I agee with Lee too, that the "del Mar" as in the sea... is equally important... and seems to play into a lot of imagery in the film.  A lot of times I've heard his whole name, Ennis del Mar... interpreted as meaning "island in the sea."

In any case his name is certainly multi-layered with complex meaning.

And, as far as "Twist" goes, that's also such a complex name.  I love reading all the zillions of different dictionary definitions of that word (and there are tons if you look at a big dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary).  Again, very multi-layered in terms of positive and negative connotations.

I do recall Proulx saying somewhere that she was specifically thinking about a rodeo (bull-riding) term in naming him "Twist."

Gabreya:
Thanks, atz75. Yeah. I always knew that del mar was like a lonely sea. I read that somewhere in a new Webster dictionary at school. I've read any kinds of dictionaries known to man. They're names are very complex.

Say, Front-Ranger, what did you mean about the vowels and consonants of the actors last names?
Also, if you don't mind me asking, what other way or ways are the names different(even though they totally are)? I don't a whole lot about their last names.

Front-Ranger:
I don't know a whole lot about the names Gyllenhaal and Ledger. I'll bet you could find out a lot by checking the Heath! Heath! Heath! or the Jake! Jake! Jake! threads.

oregondoggie sent some information about the name Ennis and here it is:


--- Quote ---Today, happened to look at The Sheridan, Wyo., County Tour Guide (2006).  In it the Bozeman Trail Gallery has a full page ad that includes a pen and ink drawing of an aged cowboy named "Old Man Ennis", an original illustration by Edward Borein (1872-1945) for a book called "The Phantom Bull".   Google indicates that Ennis ranched in the Madison Valley in Montana.  In fact, there is a town there now called Ennis, almost certainly named after him.
--- End quote ---

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