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

Alma Jr.'s Sweater vs. The Shirts

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moviegoer:
I was reading a post elsewhere about Ennis and his taking of the 2 shirts while at Jack's house and someone made a comment about Alma Jr.'s sweater that Ennis puts away at the end of the movie, and with all the symbolism and viewer intended interpretation, it got me thinking.

After Ennis takes Jack's and his shirts, he enters the kitchen and both shirts are rolled up into a bundle.  But when Ennis puts Alma Jr.'s sweater away, he carefully folds it up, kisses it, and tucks it into the closet.  What strikes me odd about this (and maybe it's just me) is how Ennis handled the shirts versus the sweater. 

These 2 shirts represented an unexpected and [almost] unconditional love betwen Ennis & Jack for 2 decades.  They were so important to Jack, he hid them in his closet for 20 years and never spoke a word about them.  They were so important to Ennis that he decides to take them, almost sneaking them out of Jack's house, and subsequently hang them up in his closet to remind him of how much Jack meant to him.  So, why take such precision and care in folding Alma Jr.'s sweater but roll up the shirts, that are obviously symbolic of so much love between Ennis & Jack, and treat them as if they are simply shirts?

Or maybe I'm just making too much of this???

moremojo:
Ennis's diligent and loving devotion to his daughter is quite evident in his careful folding of her sweater before putting it up. But I never got anything less than love and devotion when seeing Ennis handle the two shirts in Jack's Lightning Flat home. Perhaps he treated them with less precision because they were his and Jack's shirts, and Jack by that point was absent in death--Ennis had no one's opinion to worry about regarding the items other than himself (once he got Mrs. Twist's tacit approval to depart with them). Alma Jr.'s sweater remains her garment, and will be retrieved by her at some future time.

But Ennis certainly conveys his love through the shirts, and treats them accordingly. Note how he subtly but perceptably draws the shirts close to him as he passes by Mr. Twist, as if to protect and shield everything they represent from that icy and contemptuous man. And that lovely, heartbreaking detail of his fastening the top snap of Jack's shirt at the end speaks volumes on the depth and endurance of his feelings for his lost beloved; one imagines him symbolically protecting Jack through this gesture, in a way that he could not while Jack walked the earth.

alec716:
There was a theory discussed on IMDB (and perhaps here as well) that Ennis and Mrs. Twist conspired to hide some of Jack's ashes in the balled-up shirts so as to smuggle them away from the Stud Duck.  I think that the theory was largely discounted by posters.  Also, there is a line in the written story that perhaps contradicts the theory ... we are told that as Ennis is driving away from the Twist house, he saw a cemetary "and didn't want to know that Jack was going in there, to be buried on the grieving plain."  But who knows... given that ambiguity is the true leading character in this tale... perhaps some ashes were stashed in the shirt and Ennis was upset that even some part of Jack's ashes were to be buried in the family plot.

And/or ... maybe in treating Jr.'s sweater so carefully, as though it represented her, he was demonstrating that he had learned his lesson in losing Jack... that loved ones are to be cherished and treated tenderly at every turn.  I believe that he learned, as some say, that tomorrow ain't promised.

I'm eager to see others' thoughts about moviegoer's question.

alec716:

--- Quote from: moremojo on June 22, 2006, 10:19:23 pm ---But Ennis certainly conveys his love through the shirts, and treats them accordingly. Note how he subtly but perceptably draws the shirts close to him as he passes by Mr. Twist, as if to protect and shield everything they represent from that icy and contemptuous man.
--- End quote ---

beautiful point!

moviegoer:
First, moremojo...  As I read your post and you reminded us of Ennis snapping the top button of Jack's shirt at the end?  I actually let out a small sob!   Thanks alot!   ;)   I'd forgotten that small detail here (although I do remember blubbering when it happened in the movie).  And I do recall Ennis clutching the shirts more closely as he passed by Mr. Twist and thought that maybe Mr & Mrs Twist were expecting to see Ennis show up to retrieve the shirts and he couldn't bear to see Ennis carrying Jack's shirt.  Not sure about that one...

Second, alec, I was waiting to see Mrs. Twist slip the ashes in with the shirts when she was "bagging" them up, but I have to agree that it didn't make too much logical sense if she had.  As for Alma Jr.'s sweater, I had never thought about his actions towards it in that way.  And it makes perfect sense!  What a great insight!

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