Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Why does Ennis....
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: jpwagoneer1964 on December 22, 2006, 11:29:03 am ---This is why I maintain that the "Sometime I miss..." was not the last night of the trip but 2nd or 3rd.
--- End quote ---
This is true to the story, Mark! I don't have it in front of me, but what comes closest to that campfire scene in the story, and is followed by the sentence about "the brilliant spark of their infrequent couplings" and "never enough time, never enough" is followed by "a day or two later ..."
The story is usually specific about details like that. For instance, earlier on that same trip, the weather that Ennis was expecting arrives precisely three days later. Anyone have any ideas why the time frame of that last part is vague, rather than either "the next day" or "two days later"?
--- Quote from: Ellemeno on December 22, 2006, 04:47:07 pm ---Why does Ennis say, "If I don't have to sing?"
--- End quote ---
Good one, Elle! Maybe he means it in the sense of how someone who confesses to a crime to the police "sings" -- that is, admits the truth. Ennis is willing to go to the church picnic as long as he doesn't have to be truthful about himself. Eventually, as he gets more paranoid -- they'll figure him out whether he sings or not -- he can't even stand to be around that fire and brimstone crowd.
Why does Ennis give Alma that look in the grocery store, and, more perplexing, why does Alma so suddenly capitulate?
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: goadra on December 23, 2006, 11:31:09 am ---Why does story-Ennis call Jack about the divorce? That’s the only time he phones Jack.
--- End quote ---
Ennis is lonely. Really, desperately lonely. He may not have loved Alma, but there was something comforting about domesticity and especially about the girls, even when the marriage was falling apart. He was lonely, and reached out to the one person he felt comfortable with, to the one person whose voice he wanted to hear the most.
And Jack heard that, and thought it was also an invitation and an opening. But Ennis couldn't bring himself to go that far. A phone call was drastic enough, and he didn't do it again, until it was too late.
mvansand76:
--- Quote from: nakymaton on December 23, 2006, 12:26:22 pm ---Ennis is lonely. Really, desperately lonely. He may not have loved Alma, but there was something comforting about domesticity and especially about the girls, even when the marriage was falling apart. He was lonely, and reached out to the one person he felt comfortable with, to the one person whose voice he wanted to hear the most.
And Jack heard that, and thought it was also an invitation and an opening. But Ennis couldn't bring himself to go that far. A phone call was drastic enough, and he didn't do it again, until it was too late.
--- End quote ---
hey how did we get from Ennis walking in the middle of the road to Ennis' divorce?
;)
Katie77:
--- Quote from: goadra on December 23, 2006, 11:31:09 am ---Why does story-Ennis call Jack about the divorce? That’s the only time he phones Jack.
--- End quote ---
Maybe when he called Jack after the divorce, Ennis was in the frame of mind, that he wanted Jack, but Ennis had moments like that, when he threw caution to the wind, like in the reunion scene...but he soon gets back into his paranoia and stand offish ways.....also, when Jack arrived after the divorce, Ennis had the two girls, so the situation was a bit awkward....a different day, different circumstances, Ennis may have greeted Jack differently.....
Kd5000:
Ennis had been drinking as he was so nervous about Jack's arrival. His feelings he had repressed had come back to the surface. It might have played a factor in why he let his guard down. Also he wanted Jack to know where he stood. A handshake wouldn't have been the same. :) I mean I drove all the way up from TX just to get a handshake and go out to dinner with you and your wife...
Obviously, Ennis was back to his normal paranoid self when Jack showed up saying I got your card. Even without the girls there, Ennis would have said, nothing has changed. I mean he even noticed the pick-up truck driving by while he was talking to Jack. If that's not being excessively worrisome, I don't know what is. Two guys talking having a conversation in the field isn't exactly going to attract any attention.
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