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Jack's adolescence is a blank page...

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Kd5000:
From the film, we know Ennis dropped out of high school and spent the rest of his adolescence being a ranchhand/cowboy depending on your perspective with his brother.

However, Jack who is the talker, never says anything except we get the impression that he and his dad weren't close while he was growing up. Do you think he says nothing of his adolescence (did he finish h.s., we know Ennis didn't) because it was uneventful and dull or because it was emotionally painful? Or maybe it wasn't in Jack's nature to talk about the past. Being a dreamer, he always had his eyes on the future.  Hence the writers avoided Jack discussing his time before Ennis.  But I wanta know. :)    He was isolated, given where he lived and no doubt the region was very sparsely populated. Did he hang out with other adolescence males discussing how the wanta get their own spread when they come of age...?  I'm sorry if this has been discussed before. 

serious crayons:
Well, we can infer some things from his parents' ranch and his bedroom: that his early years were lonely and isolated and bleak, that he dreamed of being a cowboy (the little statue) and that he probably spent time looking out the window and planning how he would escape. His dad was a good rodeoer, and though he never taught Jack a thing, Jack somehow managed to learn it anyway -- he learned to rebel against authority and figure out a way to improve his situation. We are mostly left to imagine how he came to terms with his sexuality, but his ability to reject his dad's authority probably helped him feel more about comfortable breaking society's "rules." From a completely pragmatic perspective, I'd say the fact that we don't hear much more than that about Jack's adolescence means it wouldn't add to our understanding of his character or the story, so I'm assuming it was fairly uneventful.

Hearing about Ennis' earlier years -- parents' death, unfinished high school, losing the ranch, $24 in a coffee can, siblings getting married and leaving him behind -- does add to our understanding of his character. He's used to being abandoned, he's used to being poor, he's used to accepting whatever life hands him without complaining or hoping for improvement. His teen years were probably even harder than Jack's, which sets up the economic inequality that follows them all the way through the movie.

On the other hand, we don't hear much about Ennis' relationship with his father at first, beyond a couple of offhand, positive comments. This sets us up for shock when the Earl story comes along. We are forced to figure out for ourselves how Ennis felt about his father despite Earl, as well as to imagine what it must have been like on a day-to-day basis, being a gay kid with that kind of dad. But it's not surprising that, growing up with a dad scary enough to be capable of torture/murder, Ennis is less willing to rebel against authority.

moremojo:
In Annie's original story, Jack, like Ennis, is a high school dropout. Early on in the text, we read the description "both high-school dropouts" (or something very close, I don't have the story in front of me at the moment). In the same section, both boys are described as having come from similar backgrounds, though in different corners of the state (Ennis hailed from Sage, Jack from Lightning Flat), and with the significant difference of Ennis having been orphaned while Jack's parents still live.

In the film, Jack seems to come from a slightly (but just barely) more affluent background than Ennis. He has a vehicle, for example (or access to one), while Ennis must hitch a ride to Signal. He is more worldly than Ennis, which I attribute to his having had exposure to the rodeo circuit, but seems to have roughly the same educational level--I think the implication here is that Jack, like Ennis, did not finish high school.

Jeff Wrangler:
I've been figuring Jack got "initiated" in the summer of '62. I doubt he was up there on Brokeback by himself, even if Joe Aguirre did blame him when the lightning killed those 42 sheep. Too dangerous--to the herder and the sheep--to have one man up there by himself. (If he falls off his horse and breaks his leg, he could die before anyone finds him, and coyotes would get the sheep.)

nakymaton:

--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on September 12, 2006, 11:28:09 am ---I've been figuring Jack got "initiated" in the summer of '62.

--- End quote ---

I've always figured that, too.


--- Quote from: moremojo ---In the film, Jack seems to come from a slightly (but just barely) more affluent background than Ennis.
--- End quote ---

And Jack's parents still own their ranch, whereas Ennis's parents had two mortgages on theirs already when they died. Jack's parents' ranch isn't very prosperous, but Jack's parents still own their own property, even in the 80's, and that makes a difference.

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