Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: marlb42 on February 06, 2007, 06:53:33 pm ---I'd would like to think he is healing, maybe going to the wedding could be a sign of that.
--- End quote ---
Or if not precisely "healing," then at least that he's changed.
Somewhere a long time ago on another thread somewhere, I wrote that after puzzling for a long time over the purpose of the scene with Ennis and Junior in his truck after the outing with Cassie--where Junior asks to come live with her daddy and Ennis says no--I came to conclude that the purpose of that scene was to set up a contrast with the finale, to show that as a result of the shock of Jack's death, and finding the shirts, Ennis has changed.
In the truck, Ennis isn't "there" for his daughter when she needs him. In the final scene at his trailer, at first he isn't "there" for her, either. Initially, when she asks him to come to her wedding, he says that he can't do it, he's got to go on round-up--the usual excuse for Ennis. But then something happens. He changes his mind. He agrees to come to the wedding. He is now being "there" for someone who loves him and needs him.
Just my POV. ...
moremojo:
--- Quote from: Ellemeno on February 06, 2007, 05:09:01 am ---But I'm one of those who actually doesn't think the interior of the trailer looks that bleak, by Ennis standards.
--- End quote ---
I concur, Clarissa. I think Ennis was quite comfortable in that trailer, being the man of simple tastes and minimal needs that he was. And I do see hope as well in the ending--not only the mailbox and the sincerely warm greeting for his daughter (not to mention his all-important decision to attend her wedding), but even the little detail of the television set facing the bed signifies an enduring connection to the larger world, an opportunity to break out of his grief and loneliness.
moremojo:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on February 05, 2007, 02:26:44 pm ---And if I've gone that far, why spend 39 cents and wait two days for it to get there, when I can send it for free in two seconds and maybe even get a response by the end of the day?
--- End quote ---
I'm really bad myself, as so many are today, in sending old-fashioned pen-on-paper letters (and was even before the advent of email).
But I think there's still something to recommend in this practice, even with the ease and cheapness that electronic communications afford. For one thing, it gives one the opportunity to practice penmanship, and elegant handwriting can be a beautiful and rewarding ends in itself. It can feel like a gift to the recipient, to convey to them that care was taken in the delivery of the message. Furthermore, the letter is something that was actually held by the writer, and will be held by the recipient--there is a sense of physical contact being made, and not only the mental and/or emotional one conveyed by the letter's contents. Imagine how this sense of "He touched this" might have invested each of Ennis and Jack's postcards to one another with added tenderness.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: moremojo on February 08, 2007, 07:59:45 pm --- Imagine how this sense of "He touched this" might have invested each of Ennis and Jack's postcards to one another with added tenderness.
--- End quote ---
Nicely put, Scott.
Front-Ranger:
Ya got me right in my little communicator's heart! :'(
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