Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"Jack, I swear..." What do you think Ennis meant by that?
Artiste:
Survivor's Syndrome, I wonder if I have that since I can not stop thinking about my past lover/partner/pal, and about other past pals too!!
You think Ennis has That: Survivor's Syndrome!! ??
By saying Jack, I swear... and by keeping the shirts, plus the postcard of Brokeback Mountain where they did meet and were happy together!! ??
What is: Survivor's Syndrome??
Hugs!!
Front-Ranger:
Kurt Vonnegut was a soldier during WW2 in the sacking of Dresden...and he wrote about it in his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five.
The syndrome was tied to the Halocaust but there isn't any reason it can't relate to the loss of any beloved.
Here is more about it.
http://www.leadpencil.net/survivor.html
With hopes for your peace and resolution.
serious crayons:
Yes, I think Survivor's Syndrome applies to war, plane crashes, epidemics and anything else where some people die and others, purely by chance, do not. The people who survive are left wondering what made them deserving of life, when others they knew who appeared equally deserving (or perhaps seemed MORE so) did not survive. We're taught in our culture and religions that our fates are based on our past good behavior, or by our potential for future good behavior. So if we survive the catastrophe, it's like we were worthy of being spared, but in fact we may not feel particularly worthy. Our survival is largely probably due to chance and luck. The guilt that results is survivor's syndrome.
Religion is, in part, supposed to help us make sense of the cruelties of fate. Here is where it really drops the ball. Because fate is often more chance than anything else. What moment did you cross the street? What seat did you choose? Did you decide to stay home from the party that night?
Artiste:
Thanks Front-Ranger and ineedcrayons!!
I do not know if I have Survivor's Syndrome!! It could be that, and for many reasons, as in many, many experiences.
I will have to re-read, as I do not understand, since I am nervous about this right now. Later on, mutilple readings and thoughts about it, might help me understand!!
For now, I copied this from that text:
People whose personality and development were not yet fully formed were thrown into a hostile environment. The threat of death was unrelenting, and human rights were nonexistent. Individuals who were not ready to deal with this sort of situation were forced to cope in varying ways.
...
To that, I say that I was in hostile environnment many times, in more that one experiences, considering my own life, as some of you know. Will talk about that on other occasions. When asked.
For now, I am still puzzled as to why my friend life was not spared in the hospital about two years ago, because I figure that doctor(s) killed him.
That is my puzzle: that the doctor(s) and his family did NOT help him, in that hospital!! I consider that like the gays were sent by the SS in those camps to be murdered because they were homosexual men!! That I think is happening now!! It was the case of my friend... my partner/buddy/lover (Wayne)... I consider, even if I tried to save his life!! Hard to understand??
Pray that that will not be the case for me, because I am a gay man!!
Hugs!!
HerrKaiser:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on April 12, 2007, 11:47:59 pm ---Kurt Vonnegut was a soldier during WW2 in the sacking of Dresden...and he wrote about it in his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five.
The syndrome was tied to the Halocaust but there isn't any reason it can't relate to the loss of any beloved.
Here is more about it.
http://www.leadpencil.net/survivor.html
With hopes for your peace and resolution.
--- End quote ---
Agree, Ennis could have at least some symtoms of survivor syndrome, but that would, I think, mean he was 100% sure that jack was murdered, yes? On the other hand, I thnk Ennis' feelings are more in the very deep regretful mode; regretful that he did not muster up the truth in "I swear" and communicate it orally to Jack during Jack's life. (even though I hold onto my strong feeling that Ennis' feelings were always there and true and jack knew it).
hence, Ennis is suffering from the scourge of one of my favorite old sayings, "there is no pain worse than that of regret". To release himself from such pain, Ennis swears (a commitment to God in fact) that his love for Jack endures forever.
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