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

TOTW 23/08: Jack, his mother and The Shirts

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BlissC:
Hmmm...the shirts...personally I don't think Mrs Twist knew about the shirts from the start. I don't think Jack told her. Whether she figured it out later after finding them and asked Jack about them, or whether she only found them after Jack's death and remembering how Jack talked about Ennis (we know from OMT that Jack did mention Ennis to his parents and told them of his plans to take Ennis to the ranch and for the two of them to run the place) figured it out. I've nothing really to base that view on - no evidence, but even if Jack had a good relationship with his mother, I don't think he'd have come right out and told her about the shirts. The shirts were something that was very personal to him, and they were hidden way back in the back of the closet there for a reason. Rummaging about in closets isn't really the sort of thing you'd expect fathers to do, so putting them anywhere in the closet I guess they'd be reasonably safe from OMT, but tidying closets and stuff is the sort of thing mothers do, which is why I think they were hidden way back at the back of the closet, and why I think Mrs Twist found them accidently.

Jack's relationship with his mother's an interesting one though, because though we're given a few clues about his relationship with his father, both in what Jack tells Ennis about him and what OMT himself tells Ennis about things Jack has said, we're given very little to go on as far as his relationship with his mother goes. Practically all we know about Jack's relationship with his mother is that she never explained to him what the Pentecost is. It interests me what sort of a relationship Jack had with her though. Did he talk openly to her? Did he tell her about Ennis? Were they close? Did he stay in contact with her when he was away rodeoing and when he moved to Texas?

David In Indy:
I think she knew. She instinctively knew as a mother. But I don't think Jack ever talked to her about it.  But she knew all the same.

loneleeb3:

--- Quote from: Penthesilea on August 29, 2008, 10:48:09 am --- :-*

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK-Fd_oxVsE[/youtube]

--- End quote ---

Thank you friend!
That was great!
 :-*

injest:

--- Quote from: BlissC on August 29, 2008, 05:24:26 pm ---Hmmm...the shirts...personally I don't think Mrs Twist knew about the shirts from the start. I don't think Jack told her. Whether she figured it out later after finding them and asked Jack about them, or whether she only found them after Jack's death and remembering how Jack talked about Ennis (we know from OMT that Jack did mention Ennis to his parents and told them of his plans to take Ennis to the ranch and for the two of them to run the place) figured it out. I've nothing really to base that view on - no evidence, but even if Jack had a good relationship with his mother, I don't think he'd have come right out and told her about the shirts. The shirts were something that was very personal to him, and they were hidden way back in the back of the closet there for a reason. Rummaging about in closets isn't really the sort of thing you'd expect fathers to do, so putting them anywhere in the closet I guess they'd be reasonably safe from OMT, but tidying closets and stuff is the sort of thing mothers do, which is why I think they were hidden way back at the back of the closet, and why I think Mrs Twist found them accidently.

Jack's relationship with his mother's an interesting one though, because though we're given a few clues about his relationship with his father, both in what Jack tells Ennis about him and what OMT himself tells Ennis about things Jack has said, we're given very little to go on as far as his relationship with his mother goes. Practically all we know about Jack's relationship with his mother is that she never explained to him what the Pentecost is. It interests me what sort of a relationship Jack had with her though. Did he talk openly to her? Did he tell her about Ennis? Were they close? Did he stay in contact with her when he was away rodeoing and when he moved to Texas?

--- End quote ---

maybe she didnt' tell him about the Pentecost because she knew about him (at some level) and couldnt' reconcile the love of her child with the 'you are going to hell' of her religion so she tried to compartmentalize them..keep them apart.

BlissC:
That's an interesting idea. I've often thought before that it's very telling that Jack tells Ennis about his understanding of what the Pentecost is and then there's the line about "fellas like you and me marchin' off to hell", but I never really got beyond that and considered why his mother didn't tell him about the Pentecost. From the little Jack says about her and a couple of things from the scene at the ranch with Jack's parents after his death it's obvious she's a very religious lady, and yet as you say, it seems strange that she didn't tell Jack about the Penecost.

I guess compartmentalising the two - Jack and her religious beliefs - could account for that, and I do think it's very telling that despite her religious beliefs, she 'accepts' Ennis, and not only suggests he visits Jack's room (where as discussed previously, she knows he'll find the shirts), but lets Ennis take the shirts (and indeed seems prepared for Ennis's return with a bag handily ready to hand to Ennis to put the shirts in), but invites Ennis to visit again.

There's an awful lot going on there, and a lot of complicated back-story for a character we see on screen only very briefly, and in some ways it's a pity we don't know more about her and her relationship with Jack. That scene at the Twist ranch is obviously very difficult for Ennis, but I think it's difficult for Mrs Twist also, and in her final question (almost pleading?) to Ennis where she asks if he'll come back and visit again, I feel strongly that she sees Ennis as a link with her Jack, and would like to get to know more about Jack's life, through Ennis. I don't think it's ever said outright in the SS or the film, but I get the impression that after he moved to Texas, Jack didn't visit his parents that much (I know OMT talks about Jack's visits and about him talking about taking Ennis to the ranch and the two of them running the place, but I don't think he says how often he visited) and I think probably his mother feels she could regain some of that 'lost' time with Jack by talking to Ennis about him. 

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