Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Ennis and the final card
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: atz75 on January 22, 2009, 07:49:00 pm ---I think this idea that Ennis might have already felt a bit like an outsider due to his unusual name makes a lot of sense. For someone as insecure as Ennis, probably anything that made him stand out made him nervous. I also like the idea, suggested in this thread, that Jack's proding of Ennis to say his full name, followed by Jack's jovial acceptance of his full name ("nice to know you Ennis Del Mar") was a first step towards Ennis developing an attraction to Jack and also developing a lot of trust in Jack. I think Jack's acceptance and constant gentle encouragement of Ennis were such important factors in Ennis developing his emotional attachment to Jack.
--- End quote ---
I like the idea of that corresponding to giving Jack his full name. IMO it didn't have anything to do with ethnicity or his having an unusual name; it was rather that adding a last name to your first one gives you more specificity -- there could be any number of Bobs, Sallies or Greggs in a crowd but add their surnames and they become part of a specific family history.
Ennis leaving off his last name could have had something to do with his situation when he and Jack meet -- he doesn't use a family name because he doesn't have a family: the parents were killed when he was in his early teens and after that what was left of the family drifted apart until it was just Ennis alone -- until he met Jack.
I'd guess that "Ennis" is a family name; I'd never heard it used as a given name before but a Google search will turn up quite a lot of "Ennis" as a surname. It's even the surname of one of the regular posters on the Huffington Post! :) That would make "Ennis" both a first and last name in a sense.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on March 22, 2009, 10:40:55 am ---I like the idea of that corresponding to giving Jack his full name. IMO it didn't have anything to do with ethnicity or his having an unusual name; it was rather that adding a last name to your first one gives you more specificity -- there could be any number of Bobs, Sallies or Greggs in a crowd but add their surnames and they become part of a specific family history.
Ennis leaving off his last name could have had something to do with his situation when he and Jack meet -- he doesn't use a family name because he doesn't have a family: the parents were killed when he was in his early teens and after that what was left of the family drifted apart until it was just Ennis alone -- until he met Jack.
--- End quote ---
I agree with this interpretation too about Ennis's reluctance to utter his full name. There seem to be a few ways to interpret that exchange with Jack. It's like his family name is an after-thought to him initially until Jack prods for it. It makes sense that he might feel a sense of estrangement from his family (his parents dying, his horrible memories of his father, a bad relationship with K.E. including the violence as a kid and Ennis being kicked out of his brother's house shortly before he embarked for Brokeback).
I think there are numerous ways to interpret this brief moment of introduction as being an important glimpse into Ennis's sense of self-esteem.
optom3:
The one thing that seems at odds in both the s.s and film is the whole name issue. I have to believe that the names were chosen after due consideration. Not one word of the story is excess to requirements. I started to think of my own friendships and lovers etc and it came to me that the more attached to someone I become, the more shortened my name.
In our family all our names are abbreviated not elongated.In BBM as the two become closer, so the names become more formal.This led me to think how would I introduce someone very close to me, to a member of my family. I almost certainly would use an abbreviated form of their name.
It is at odds then that Ennis goes from his more simple forename, to the very formal full name. That in turn leads me to consider that his apparent formal signature in the postcard, is actually more an endearment or convoluted nickname, based on their first tentative introduction.
The only time I can recall people in my family using their full names, was when the kids were little and upon being asked their names, would proudly say, Emma Jane Smith or whatever, pronounced in very staccato fashion with exaggerated diction.
Maybe as with so many things in this wonderful tale, we are led off on various tangents which are at once both shocking and abrupt,leaving us unable to catch our breath. I cannot help but think, that the very deliberate and visual use of his full and formal name, acts as a warning that we are abut to witness something catastrophic. In much the same way as TS1 assails our senses, with no preamble whatsoever, raw, beautiful and utterly shocking. The postcard is the same, raw, beautiful and delivering an almighty kick to the solar plexus.
chowhound:
Another possibility that has not been discussed so far is that Ennis very deliberately signs the postcard "Ennis del Mar" as he knows that it is quite likely that Lureen will read it before Jack. After all, he may well recall that it was Alma who first let him know that he had a postcard from somebody called "Jack".
We have only one address for Jack and Lureen:
RFD 2
Childress, Texas
I don't live in the States - I live in Canada - so I'm not sure what "RFD" stands for but I assume it's a post box of some sort. If I'm right, then presumably Lureen was as likely as Jack to pick up the mail and, when doing so, would surely have looked at the postcard and the name of its signatory, "Ennis del Mar". However, that is an early address. But even if they had moved on since then, it is still quite likely that Lureen would have seen and read the card before Jack.
None of us can know what was going through Ennis's mind when he asked Jack to meet him at Pine Creek on November 7., though this may be the first time that Ennis has been the initiator of one of their reunions. If that's true, I think it is important. As important, is that this will be their first meeting after their last highly emotional and explosive meeting earlier on in the year.
Although we can't know what was going through Ennis's mind when he dent the postcard, some of us have wondered whether Ennis, is now starting to think not so much about a continuation of their old life but a new beginning. Even if he is not yet ready to fully commit, maybe he is starting to consider the possibilities of that "sweet life" offered him by Jack all those years ago.
If that's going through Ennis's mind, then signing the card "Ennis del Mar" is not so much directed at Jack as at Lureen. I don't know if it is a challenge, but at least it's insisting she knows fully the name of this man who is inviting her husband to join him - an invitation, obviously, which does not include her.
Even if this is not he case, Ennis is making sure that Lureen knows exactly who he is. He is not just some guy called "Ennis" but a fully realized individual. There is only one of me, he seems to be telling Lureen, and my name is Ennis del Mar.
Monika:
--- Quote from: chowhound on March 29, 2009, 03:32:39 pm ---None of us can know what was going through Ennis's mind when he asked Jack to meet him at Pine Creek on November 7., though this may be the first time that Ennis has been the initiator of one of their reunions. If that's true, I think it is important. As important, is that this will be their first meeting after their last highly emotional and explosive meeting earlier on in the year.
--- End quote ---
It might very well have been the first time. Something that also strikes is me is that brief shot of Ennis and Jack in the tent on their last night together. Ennis has his arms around Jack that may be suggesting that the roles have switched or that Ennis is more comfortable with showing his feelings and his need for Jack. Maybe Ennis was becoming more open to things, but it was simply, as it turned out, too late.
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