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Book Discussion: Brokeback Mountain

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Front-Ranger:
Hmmm...I looked up obscenity and the first couple of definitions are clearly not applicable...repulsive, disgusting to the senses. But the third definition is designed to incite to lust. Maybe this is what Annie had in mind!!

And I have to admit that the placement of the can and the spoon sticking out of it, superimposed with Ennis behind, does incite one to lust!

moremojo:
My office copy of Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1991) gives the following for 'obscene':

1 : disgusting to the senses : REPULSIVE 2 : abhorrent to morality or virtue; specif : designed to incite to lust or depravity

It seems to me that the 'obscenity' that Proulx cites could be another window into Ennis's mind, in that it may suggest something of his feeling for Jack and/or their time on Brokeback, either as it was actually lived, or as he remembers these (specifically via his dreams). There could be lust here, but also perhaps a feeling of disgust or shame in himself, in Jack, or the two of them together. The lust and the shame could be mixed up all together (it is possible to feel ashamed about one's romantic/erotic feelings), and this might reflect Ennis's deep-seated internalized homophobia.

The 'cartoon shape', 'lurid colors', and 'comic obscenity' all lend a nightmare aura to the Jack-filled dreams that haunt Ennis in the end.

Front-Ranger:
Why is the story called Brokeback Mountain when the real mountain is named Brokenback Mountain? There have been several theories about the title of the story. Here's one that I hope is new. The real Brokenback Mountain in north-central Wyoming has a name that is melodious and rhythmic, while the name Brokeback Mountain is plainer and harsher, more suited to Annie Proulx's writing style. But the main reason I think she changed the name is because Brokeback, like Mountain, has two syllables, not three, and almost everything in this story comes in twos, starting with Jack and Ennis.

loneleeb3:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on April 29, 2007, 11:48:14 pm ---Why is the story called Brokeback Mountain when the real mountain is named Brokenback Mountain? There have been several theories about the title of the story. Here's one that I hope is new. The real Brokenback Mountain in north-central Wyoming has a name that is melodious and rhythmic, while the name Brokeback Mountain is plainer and harsher, more suited to Annie Proulx's writing style. But the main reason I think she changed the name is because Brokeback, like Mountain, has two syllables, not three, and almost everything in this story comes in twos, starting with Jack and Ennis.

--- End quote ---
Makes sense to me! The book was much more harsh than the movie. More intense and.....I don't know, rough maybe. I don't know if thats the right word.
In the book, when Jack comes to visit after 4yrs, I reads like Ennis knows Alma saw them. Am I mis-reading that or is that correct?

Jeff Wrangler:

--- Quote from: loneleeb3 on April 30, 2007, 07:33:27 am ---In the book, when Jack comes to visit after 4yrs, I reads like Ennis knows Alma saw them. Am I mis-reading that or is that correct?


--- End quote ---

My understanding is also that in the story Ennis knows Alma saw them. Isn't there a line in there somewhere with Ennis telling Alma that he and Jack hadn't seen each other in four years, "as if it were an explanation" (or some such words)--which I've taken to mean a cock-and-bull explanation for why he was kissing Jack.

Maybe Annie deleted that "n" from "Brokenback" as part of a general kind of playing with Wyoming geography that she seems to have done--to avoid pinning the story too closely to an actual, identifiable mountain?

I'm reminded of how, in the story, Ennis tells Jack about his gut cramps and mentions that at first he thought they came from something he'd eaten at "that place in Dubois." I've interpreted that to mean they stopped off for something to eat somewhere in Dubois on the way back to Signal after they came down off Brokeback. But the real Dubois, Wyoming, is northwest of Riverton, practically across the state from the Big Horns and Ten Sleep. It would make no sense for them to have gone from Brokeback-Brokenback, in the Big Horns, to Ten Sleep-Signal, by way of Dubois. You'd probably have to go through Ten Sleep to get from Brokenback to Dubois.

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