Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Jack's adolescence is a blank page...
jpwagoneer1964:
I aways felt that Jack's childhood was very lonely, no brother or sisters, no other kid would come all the way to LF to play, especially with lots of chores to do.
In the short story Anne implies that they are both virgins. However if Jack was not I felt he had only been with women,Ennis still his first so to speak. I realize that I may be alone in that camp.
I also think Jack was alone on brokeback 1962.
Shakesthecoffecan:
I have thought that Jack must have had some experence before, and in the movie how he was sizing up Ennis at the first meeting it is almost as if he is thinking: "This summers guy". No mention is made of anyone else up there with him, but it make sense someone would have been.
Also in the story, Ennis recalls Jack telling him about a time when he was four or so, when his father pissed all over him and beat him. This and Ennis's observation that the road to the house was the only road he would have known growning up are about all I see of his childhood.
moremojo:
--- Quote from: shakestheground on September 12, 2006, 01:18:16 pm ---Also in the story, Ennis recalls Jack telling him about a time when he was four or so, when his father pissed all over him and beat him. This and Ennis's observation that the road to the house was the only road he would have known growning up are about all I see of his childhood.
--- End quote ---
Yes, these are some of the meager details the story affords us of Jack's childhood--the anecdote about the abuse is also pertinent in that, through Ennis's reminiscence of it, we learn that Jack was circumcised, unlike his father.
The film, through its necessary reliance on a real physical environment and accoutrements to depict the story, gives more fodder for inference of what colored his childhood world (e.g., the little wooden riding figure, Jack's boyhood shoes, etc.) and how.
coffeecat33:
These same thoughts went through my mind and I ended up writing about it.
If you're interested, please see my LiveJournal entries at
http://coffeecat33.livejournal.com/2006/08/12/
I am still trying to figure out how to organize on LJ, but that is the link to the first page on Young Jack. let me know what you think. - Coffeecat33 (Leslie)
Young Jack
Shakesthecoffecan:
The circumcision bit Proulx included, I think that played into an on going debate about the practice. I was circumcised at birth and while I would not want it for a son of mine, it has never really been an issue for me. But Jack, like many others, read a lot into it. In Jack's case he gets the sense he is less of a man than his father, with no way to ever get it right. It is one way she picks up on a topic that is timely to invite our feelings, prejudices, etc. into the mix.
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