Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
what possessed Jack to take that shirt in the first place?
starboardlight:
--- Quote from: JakeTwist on June 05, 2006, 01:05:02 am ---Just when you think you have absorbed every nuance of this masterpiece, voila! another detail to mull over. 8)
I always wonder what Jack told his mother about the shirts, he had to stop her from washing them somehow, and a mother's first instinct would be to wash them and to try to get the bloodstains out. Of course by the time she might have seen them the bloodstains could have been set already.
"Don't throw out them two dirty shirts ah'm leavin' up there in ma closet, Ma. 'N don't wash 'em neither, jus leave 'em be."
"The one's wid the blood on 'em? Why Jackie, you know I gotta try and get that blood out quick as I can."
"Juss leave 'em be..."
--- End quote ---
i wonder if he didn't have to. he talked about Ennis enough, so he may already feel that she understands his feelings for Ennis. In addition, he hid the shirts in a nook inside the closet, so he probably thinks that he's the only one who knows about them. otherwise, why hide them?
welliwont:
--- Quote from: starboardlight on June 05, 2006, 01:50:51 am ---i wonder if he didn't have to. he talked about Ennis enough, so he may already feel that she understands his feelings for Ennis.
--- End quote ---
Hmm, ok...
--- Quote from: starboardlight on June 05, 2006, 01:50:51 am ---In addition, he hid the shirts in a nook inside the closet, so he probably thinks that he's the only one who knows about them. otherwise, why hide them?
--- End quote ---
Well maybe its just me, but I don't think that they were very hidden, to me that was not really a *hiding* place at all!! WTF, Ennis found them in no time flat! ::) If I was his mother I would have seen them there.
starboardlight:
--- Quote from: JakeTwist on June 05, 2006, 02:20:40 am ---Well maybe its just me, but I don't think that they were very hidden, to me that was not really a *hiding* place at all!! WTF, Ennis found them in no time flat! ::) If I was his mother I would have seen them there.
--- End quote ---
yeah, you're right. i can imagine, she's taking them out to wash, and he runs after her and retrieve the shirts from her, saying "It's Ennis." and that's all he'd have to say, while she gives him a knowing smile.
silkncense:
--- Quote ---I'm not so sure about that. Jack kept his own shirt unwashed, with the blood on the sleeve. So he intended to keep his own shirt along with Ennis's.
--- End quote ---
I agree. And I think the fact that he kept them together, esp if they were hanging together, his mother would know not to wash them. Since Jack's room was so neat, I suspect that if he wanted something washed, he specifically gave it to his mother or put it in a designated place.
What do you think Jack said to his mother that first summer, coming home to Lightning Flat with that bruise on his face? Do you think he spoke excitedly about Ennis - when did he really start the Ennis conversations with his parents??? After the reunion?
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: starboardlight on June 05, 2006, 12:31:02 am ---I'm not so sure about that. Jack kept his own shirt unwashed, with the blood on the sleeve. So he intended to keep his own shirt along with Ennis's. He may/may not have tucked them together at first, but the two shirts were a set in his mind, right from the moment he took them.
--- End quote ---
That's a really good point, Nipith. I hadn't thought of that. And yeah, JakeTwist, you're right, Jack would have had to keep his mother from washing both shirts. (I kind of imagine her letting Jack have his privacy and not asking too many questions -- she just strikes me as someone who can understand what's going on without having it spelled out to her. But since Jack only had two shirts on the mountain as well, she must have known that only one of them got washed when he got home. It wasn't like Jack came home with a huge bag of laundry or anything. But... hmmm. I don't know about Jack explaining much about Ennis. He's more open than Ennis is - at the very least, he's able to say "Brokeback Mountain" to other people - but I don't see him being that open. Even with his parents. I mean, Jack's a pretty good liar, and I assume he learned how to lie as a child. And Jack seems to lie almost instinctively at times. He probably learned to do that to deal with his father, but... hmmm. It seems like it would be hard for Jack to be open with his mother and lie to his father all the time in that little house together, if that makes any sense at all.)
--- Quote from: silkncense on June 05, 2006, 11:32:45 am ---What do you think Jack said to his mother that first summer, coming home to Lightning Flat with that bruise on his face? Do you think he spoke excitedly about Ennis - when did he really start the Ennis conversations with his parents??? After the reunion?
--- End quote ---
Again, I just don't see Jack being that open about the whole experience. Certainly not with his father. I imagine that Jack lied about the reason for the bruise. And I imagine Jack bringing up Ennis almost defiantly, while arguing with his father. But that's really just speculation. I'm not going on anything stronger than gut feelings and imagination here.
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