A new reader of the Laramie Saga, Brach Anders, gave me permission to copy his comments on Brokeback Mountain, Story (both versions) and Film, with regard to a discrepancy in the story that was found in the film. He points out an important discrepancy in "The Long Way Home", where Jack's birth should be 1943. But he also shows that my "revised" timeline, which disagrees with Annie Proulx's short story, is actually in line with the "corrected" timeline, in which the last meeting between Ennis and Jack had to have occurred in 1982. VERY INTERESTING STUFF!!
(1) In your "Taking Chances" Ennis marked Jack's dates 1944-1982, which would make Jack 38 at the time of his death. However, Lureen told Ennis "he was only thirty-nine years old."
We can derive the correct years of Jack's birth and death from the BBM written story.
We are told that Alma Jr. was born September 1964. Jack's boy must have been born October 1966 because on June 24, 1967 Jack said his boy was 8 mos. old.
We are told that Jack and Ennis's last trip occured in May and that Alma Jr. was 17, Jack's boy 15. For those ages to be consistent with the birthdates, the last trip must have occured May 1982. (The story incorrectly gives May 1983 as the date of the last trip. We might also want to change "Count the damn few times we been together in twenty years" to "Count the damn few times we been together in nearly twenty years." The BBM script writers caught the inconsistency.)
Jack must have died sometime between May 1982, the date of the last trip, and November 1982, the date proposed for the next trip. When Jack and Ennis met in June 1963, "neither of them was twenty", which I take to mean Jack was 19 in June 1963, which would have made Jack 38 in June 1982. So Jack must have turned 39 sometime between June 1982 and November 1982.
Therefore, Jack must have be born sometime between June 1943 and November 1943 and died at age 39 sometime between June 1982 and November 1982.
(2) According to the omniscient narrator, Jack's death was accidental: "Ennis didn't know about the accident for months until his postcard to Jack saying that November still looked like the first chance came back stamped DECEASED." Ennis "didn't know which way it was, the tire iron or a real accident." But WE know it was a real accident.
(3) Annie Proulx's Close Range collection of short stories includes "Pair of Spurs", a story about a rancher, Car Scrope, who owns the Coffeepot ranch southeast of Signal.
The original version of "Brokeback Mountain", published in The New Yorker, has Ennis working in Signal for Car Scrope's cow-and-calf outfit known as the Coffeepot. But the version of "Brokeback Mountain" that was later published in the Close Range collection has Ennis working in Signal for Stoutamire's cow-and-calf outfit.
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3507973 times)