P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17

[opinionista]

who says they didn't fish? We see Ennis exiting his truck with all of his gear, and I'm sure fish would have supplemented their meals on the campouts.

Alma did. From the short story:

"You know," she said, and from her tone he knew something was coming, "I used to wonder how come you never brought any trouts home. Always said you caught plenty. So one time I got your creel case open the night before you went on one a your little trips -price tag still on it after five years- and I tied a note on the end of the line. It said, hello Ennis, bring home some fish, love, Alma. And then you came back and said you'd caught a bunch a browns and ate them up. Remember? I looked in the case when I got a chance and there was my note still tied there and that line hadn't touch water in its life."

The above passage is  also in the movie, when Alma confronts Ennis on Thanksgiving.

[jpwagoneer1964]

Alma did. From the short story:

"You know," she said, and from her tone he knew something was coming, "I used to wonder how come you never brought any trouts home. Always said you caught plenty. So one time I got your creel case open the night before you went on one a your little trips -price tag still on it after five years- and I tied a note on the end of the line. It said, hello Ennis, bring home some fish, love, Alma. And then you came back and said you'd caught a bunch a browns and ate them up. Remember? I looked in the case when I got a chance and there was my note still tied there and that line hadn't touch water in its life."

The above passage is  also in the movie, when Alma confronts Ennis on Thanksgiving.

there was no need for the case if the fish were immediately prepaired for a meal and how can you tell if a line was ever in the water?

[opinionista]

there was no need for the case if the fish were immediately prepaired for a meal and how can you tell if a line was ever in the water?

I can't answer that question Mark. Sorry. I can only tell you what Proulx wrote. It seems like they never actually fished. Not while herding the sheep nor afterwards.

[serious crayons]

there was no need for the case if the fish were immediately prepaired for a meal and how can you tell if a line was ever in the water?

I don't know about the line, but Alma would have been able to tell if the paper on which she'd written her note had been underwater.

[jpwagoneer1964]

I don't know about the line, but Alma would have been able to tell if the paper on which she'd written her note had been underwater.

But there wouldn't be any reason for the case to be underwater if the fish went from the hook to the frying pan. I still say they fished on many of trips if nothing else for same meals and the fish were right there in the stream, Ennis and jack just didn't go to fish.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I don't know about the line, but Alma would have been able to tell if the paper on which she'd written her note had been underwater.

I would think the note wouldn't even have been there when Alma looked in the creel after Ennis came home. Ennis would have taken the note off the line before he actually used it to fish.

Presumably they could have kept the fish on a line in the water after they caught them, until they were ready to cook them.

I'm sure they did some fishing all those years. You have to take a break some times. 

[jpwagoneer1964]

As for the postcards writing, I think they didn't write long letters because, unlike women, men in general don't do that. At least I've never met any man who would write a long, detailed letter, unless they're at war.

I agree. The cool thing about being a gay man is not having to wtite a buch of sappy love letters. Haha.

[Brown Eyes]

But evolution in what direction? Is it a sign that he has become more open to communicating with others? Or less, because it means he can avoid trips into town? My feeling has always been that it's an implicit invitation to Jack -- he's hoping for "postcards," so to speak. Perhaps he's belatedly open to Jack's communication. The fact that he carefully adjusts and examines the letters the same way he does in the "tent don't look right" scene underscores that interpretation, for me.

Well, yes, this is probably the key question.  How has Ennis evolved?  It's interesting that you note this step (getting a mailbox) can be read simultaneously as a social (accepting correspondence directly with other people... and openly acknowledging communications from other people are arriving on his doorstep) and an anti-social step (his ability to avoid town and trips to the post office).  I agree with you that Ennis getting a mail box feels like a positive step (that's just the sense I get from it), but yes.  It's too late to receive the mail he really wants.  I think that anything indicating Ennis is breaking out of old patterns is a good thing.  But, it goes without saying that all of this is ambiguous.

[Cameron]

You know I am getting more and more confused about the mailbox the more I watch.  The whole last part of the film Ennis seems to be in real depression and despair. From the last scene at the lake, to Cassie at the bus station, then of course the phone call and lightening flats.

In fact I have been rewatching Lightning Flats and if possible it seems that Ennis is even more distraught and in a greater state of grief as he left then I even originally thought.  In fact I think that is why Mrs. Twist does put her hand to her throat, not because of Mr. Twist but because in looking into Ennis's eyes after he finds the shirts she now understands everything between Jack and Ennis, and she feels Ennis's true grief and she is feeling the pain of his pain.

Anyway that is why I am now even more confused about the mailbox.  Ennis seems to be out of that deep depression, with the care and the focus of getting the numbers just right, and he is now able to hug Alma Jr. (which he never did before) and even joke with her a little.  Of course his true feelings still show when she talks about Kurt.  But I cannot figure it out.

Has he recovered and decided to really move on with life? 
(Another question, why does he now have a fancy knife set, when before he could barely even eat? I have been wondering about this.)

Or is he now living in some sort of fantasy life with the shirts and the mailbox waiting for Jack like the book Ennis dreams constantly of Jack, and so has he found some peace with his fantasies and dreams?

I would like to think that he has somehow decided to live, but I tend to not think that is the case.

[jpwagoneer1964]

I think Ennis was sad not depressed, huge difference.