Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Jack's adolescence is a blank page...
elomelo:
Good points - yeah, the scene with the brutal murder was shocking as was Jack being beaten in Ennis's thoughts when he hears Lureen explaining the "accident".
And yes, maybe it's to focus on Ennis who is the main character, and not ladden the plates of the audience with this additional information on Jack. But it would have definitely had that much more of an impact, tying the two together.
We just happen to know this much because we've read the story as well. (:
Monika:
--- Quote from: Mandy21 on March 06, 2008, 07:36:40 pm ---I'm not sure "run off" would be the right term. He was 18 in '62, and we don't know how many years of high school he completed. Maybe his dad made him drop out at 15, expecting / needing him to be a help on the farm, continued to give him food and shelter, etc., and Jack turns out to not have his heart in it at all. I would think he would just want to get the heck out of that place the minute he could. We don't know if Jack had any other jobs prior to Brokeback '62 to earn some cash to buy that truck, but I'm leaning towards the idea above that it was just an old clunker of a truck, and his dad let him have it, on the hope that he'd get out of town in it, and maybe stay gone since he wasn't any help to him on the farm. We also don't know if Jack came back home for the winter '62 / spring '63 period before heading back to Brokeback. I'm guessing he must have cause he probably couldn't have made it to warmer climes to work the Rodeo circuit in that thing.
On the earlier topic of his "initiation" (what a nice word for it:)), I agree that he surely seems like a young man who has had some experience in the arena of sex with a man. Let's face it, he was the one reaching for Ennis's right hand in the tent, and he didn't seem too confused by the act itself, in terms of who goes where and what goes where (hope I'm not offending anybody). I think by the way Aguirre gives the instructions to Jack and Ennis on day one, that those were the standard set of instructions, followed year after year -- that there was always one man staying at the camp and one man staying with the sheep. Remember, he says don't leave no signs that you were there to Jack, that the Forest Service can't know that you were there. One person couldn't survive in just what he could carry on the back of one horse through those conditions. So I think there had to always be two up there. Having said that, I'm not sold on the idea that Jack had his initiation at Brokeback in '62 for this reason (bear with me, it's kind of scattered): Jack seems to me as a very romantic, sensual man -- the kind that could fall in love and get his heart broken easily. If he'd had sex with his Brokeback partner in '62, I suppose it could have just been casual sex, but how casual can sex be when it goes on for 6 months (April - Sept). And if it went on for that long, Jack seems to me the type who would have fallen in love with that guy. If that was the case, and Jack never saw that guy again, he'd have had a broken heart, he'd have been gun-shy about jumping in again. The Jack that pulls up in front of that trailer in April '63 and gets out, kicks his truck, turns and lays his eyes on Ennis one time and then oh-so-seductively poses against his truck with those come-and-get-me-cowboy eyes (sorry, I'm getting hot and bothered now) -- to me, that is NOT a man who's ever had a broken heart or been the least bit hesitant to jump in with both feet when he sees something he wants. So, IMHO, I don't think Jack was a virgin, but I also don't think he lost it on Brokeback.
Any of that make any sense to anybody?
--- End quote ---
I agree with everything you say. I think it´s clear that Jack has had previous experience when it comes to sex with men, but I don´t believe either it was from the summer before. I find it more likely that i happened earlier. I mean, it´s pretty common that kids play sexual games with one another. Perhaps Jack met a like-minded kid in school.
Artiste:
Jack's adolescence is a blank page...
..........
Is it?
Maybe! Likely no!
We know about him... in some ways.
But, there are buts !!
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