Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Where was Ennis coming from? Going to?
RouxB:
WOW!!! Thanks!
O0
Front-Ranger:
Hello and welcome, Mel. Wow you really hit the ground running with all that good info about Wyoming. From what I've seen, this state to the north of me is a lot like Annie Proulx's prose, sparse but dramatic. I love your fantasy about the post office. A few pages down there is a thread called "You KNow You're a Brokeholic When" that you might want to check out. Hope to see u here again soon when your 3-yr-old is napping.
That reminds me of a story. I was typing away at my computer once when my son, Kit, about 3 years old at the time, laid his hand on the keyboard and said, "Mommy, don't touch 'puter. 'Puter is Kit's special!"
Ellemeno:
[Ellemeno hangs out large "Welcome Mel" banner]
Mel, that's great. Any insightful, smart, humorous, BBM-lovin' friend of Meryl's is a friend of mine. And I have a three year old too. She knows my desktop background is a picture of Ennis and Jack (dozy embrace close-up).
Front-Ranger:
Absolutely I'm a proud Coloradan. Welcome aboard!
serious crayons:
Back to why Jack fell in love with Ennis (because I am just seeing this thread for the first time and wish I'd found it earlier but can't pass up the chance to throw in my opinion on this issue).
Anyway, I agree with everything everybody said above: his appreciation of Jack, his vulnerability, his wild side. His being gorgeous sure doesn't hurt. Personally, I was in love with him by the time the train went past Aguirre's trailer.
But also, Ennis is good at all the things that Jack tries to be good at. He has the Marlboro image casually nailed (a pose that Jack often looks like he's self-consciously trying to assume). He can shoot things. He can catch objects tossed to him without warning -- and with his left hand! -- whereas Jack fumbled the keys LD Newsome threw. Etc.
As for Ennis' shyness and social awkwardness, those qualities probably just drew Jack in all the more. People who are strong in one characteristic often don't seek that quality in a partner. In other words, Jack took his own friendly extroversion for granted; he wouldn't necessarily care whether Ennis shared it. The fact that he doesn't just becomes a challenge; he found it exciting when Ennis DID open up to him. To paraphrase Cassie, guys don't fall in love with friendliness. (Not necessarily, anyway. I guess Ennis did.).
And still another point: It's not like Ennis was taciturn and cold to Jack, at least not after that first afternoon when they had beers together. He always listened intently when Jack talked, laughed at his jokes, banged the pot and said "very good" about his singing, and obviously was crazy about him. That's a pretty potent combination. And Ennis continued to respond that way to Jack, for the most part, for the next 20 years.
Ennis may have been uptight, but the only real problem his uptightness caused for Jack was, well, the big obvious one.
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