Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?
The bright spot is Jack's appearance in his dreams which he can use to 'stoke the day' and he hoards them, panel by panel. I have the impression that it is a special day because Jack does appear to Ennis in dreams - that this not an everyday occurrence. And there are people who think that departed loved ones communicate with those about to die, perhaps to offer comfort, or ease the journey, or perhaps it's the fragile but distinct demarcation between life and death becoming blurry...
If you couple the metaphor of Ennis packing up and moving on with Jack's appearance in his dreams, I think you could make the argument that this is Ennis' last day.
Fascinating question - thank you, Chrissi!
This is a really intriguing idea and I can see why it might occur to someone, I think.
I don't have my short story handy (bad Brokie!) but it seems to me that AP goes to great length to describe the details of the morning as beginning like any other for Ennis - his routine of reheating old coffee, peeing in the sink. One event that makes the day different is that he is going to be moving on and might have to stay with his married oldest daughter. But you get the impression that his work is largely unreliable and that even this may be a repeat of something that's happened in the past.
The bright spot is Jack's appearance in his dreams which he can use to 'stoke the day' and he hoards them, panel by panel. I have the impression that it is a special day because Jack does appear to Ennis in dreams - that this not an everyday occurrence. And there are people who think that departed loved ones communicate with those about to die, perhaps to offer comfort, or ease the journey, or perhaps it's the fragile but distinct demarcation between life and death becoming blurry...
If you couple the metaphor of Ennis packing up and moving on with Jack's appearance in his dreams, I think you could make the argument that this is Ennis' last day.
Fascinating question - thank you, Chrissi!
No. But it sure would be interesting to read why someone would think that.
Morning, BetterMostians!I honestly don't see any indications that Ennis died that day. I recall Ennis was concerned about loading the trailer, looking for a new job, and moving in temporarily with his married daughter - I guess Alma, Jr. He was a bit depressed by the thought of those activities, but knew that if he kept Jack in his mind during the day, it would "stoke" his spirits. That doesn't sound like someone who was one the brink of death.
Before we delve into this week's topic, I'd like to post a refresher: you are welcome to make suggestions for a TOTW! You got a specific scene, which never got totally clear to you? Maybe a small line from the SS you continue to mull over? Or you wonder about a character's motivation in a specific moment? Or maybe you're just curious about your fellow Brokies' opinions about something related to the movie or story? - PM me or Katherine (Ineedcrayons), we're happy to put your question into focus for a week. :)
Last week I strayed a bit on other BBM related sites and stumbled across a theory/thought which never crossed my mind before and which I've never seen mentioned anywhere. I'm not sure on which site I read it, but think it was on IMDB. This is another question we won't be able to 'solve' in any way because we just have too few information, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it anyway.
Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?(http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m47/Penthesilea06/brokebackmtn_3903-1.jpg)
This topic was just a passing comment, mentioned only in a side-sentence of a post which then moved on to another subject matter.
At first, I was like hunh? :o ???
But the question stuck with me. I took my copy of the STS book and read the prologue again with this question in mind.
The prologue begins and ends with the wind rocking Ennis's trailer. And in between the wind is mentioned a third time. We associate the wind with Jack, so we can interpret the wind accompanying Ennis as Jack's spirit. The wind is a powerful presence in this short part of the story, and it is depicted as very strong, as rocking the trailer, hissing, booming, roaring. In short, it makes a lot of noise, almost like it would call out to Ennis. Is the wind (=Jack) calling Ennis on this day? Many people believe/are waiting for that departed loved ones are calling them "into the other world", when their time has come.
Another point is Ennis dwelling on his dream of Jack: "...lets a panel of the dream slide forward. If he does not force his attention on it, it might stoke the day, ..." Ennis sitting alone in his trailer, slipping deep into the world of his dreams and Jack calling him.
A third point is Annie's sentence "It could be bad on the highway with the horse trailer." Having read Annie's other short stories in Close Range, I fully believe she often intersperses hints of coming events into her stories and especially foreshadows coming doom. So this could be a hint.
One last aspect (for now) is Ennis's age. We don't know how much time has passed since the end of the story, but Ennis's belly and pubic hair is grey. I don't believe Ennis will live to be a very old man. We've discussed this long time ago (hey Jeff, it was you who was very close to my own feelings regarding this :)); I think due to poor health care, too much alcohol and cigarettes, poor diet, physically hard work and simply not caring about himself after Jack's death, Ennis will not live very long.
Perhaps the prologue sounds as though Ennis is dying because Ennis has already died a bit, inside? There's something ghost-like about Ennis at the beginning and end of the story. (Not the part about pissing in the sink. I'm not sure if a sink-pissing ghost would be scary or funny or just unhygienic.)
There was a fascinating discussion on this on the DC forum quite some time ago and several of the arguments were quite convincing. 'It could be bad on the road with the horses' was connected with the parents dying on the only curve on Dead Horse Road
Connexios were also found between the trailer and the doomed Thresher submarine. I won't say more on this right now not to spoil the excitement of finding your own connexions between the two if you wish to, and in the hope that new ideas will come out, taking the discussion further.
Oh, and there was a (separate) discussion on the symbolism of Ennis pissing in the sink - another TOTW perhaps??
Have 'fun' ;)
It would seem that the day described in the prologue is many years in the future from 1983 when Jack died. Perhaps AP meant us to think that it is in 1997, around the time she wrote the story. Ennis is described in the prologue as having gray hairs in his lower abdomen, that doesn't usually happen to men until they are in late middle age or early retirement years. I am in my early 50's and I am just now getting a few gray hairs on my chest, all other areas on me, except for the gray in the temples in my hairline, are still nice and toasty brown.
There was a fascinating discussion on this on the DC forum quite some time ago and several of the arguments were quite convincing.
(On a more serious, topic-related note, I'm glad someone else noticed this detail. I've written elsewhere that I feel it's one indication that the prologue takes place many years, perhaps a decade at least, after Jack's death, and that Ennis is still alone--no finding another male lover.)
Think you need more whiskey.
Maybe the author of the post I read was referring to this discussion.
I'm going over to look for it - I'm not - I'm going - I'm not - ... :laugh:
I won't. At least not now. I'm waiting what my BetterMost comarades come up with and read the DC discussion later.
Hey bud, what am I, chopped liver? ;)
I talked about Ennis's grey pubic and belly hair (and it's indication of time passing) in my second post on this thread.
Tsk, tsk, tsk ;) Think you need more whiskey, then you'll see all the symbolic meanings clearly ;D. Nah, seriously, you're one of my fav persons to disagree with about the symbolic stuff :-*. How boring would it be if we all had the same opinions. This board would long be dead ::).
*Ahem*
Jeff isn,t the only one who doesn,t agree with all this symbolic stuff lol. Re pissing in the sink, I mean the only thing that symbolises to me is that he woke up in the morning, desperate for a pee, couldn,t make it to the bathroom on time so he pissed in the sink. End of lol. ;D And don,t even get me started on buckets. :laugh:
Well, since this keeps coming up. ... :laugh:
Maybe Chrissi remembers this discussion elsewhere, too. Unfortunately I'm not very good at "searching" for posts.
I think in the story Ennis's living conditions are even more spartan than they are in the film. The screenplay refers to his "trailer house," and here in Pennsylvania we would say he was living in a "house trailer." However, I think in the story he is actually living in an even smaller trailer, the kind used for traveling and camping.
When I was a boy my grandparents bought a "travel trailer" and would occasionally take me along on weekend trips. Many of the trailers that we would see in the campgrounds where we stayed did not have bathroom facilities (my grandparents' trailer had a toilet in a tiny little closet of a room, but no shower or washbasin). These trailers would have a sink with running water, supplied through a hose hooked up to the trailer; a small, two-burner stove fueled by liquid propane; and a small refrigerator (the one in my grandparents' trailer could be powered by either electricity or propane). We know the trailer in the story has a stove and a sink. I don't think it has any kind of bathroom facilities, so the reason Ennis relieves himself in the sink is because otherwise he would have to put on his clothes and go outdoors to some outhouse.
Nahhhh I still reckon he was too desperate to make it to the bathroom on time.
I have, and had there been a sink, well, I would not have hesitated :o (runs away hoping nobody will recognise her)
Perhaps the prologue sounds as though Ennis is dying because Ennis has already died a bit, inside? There's something ghost-like about Ennis at the beginning and end of the story. (Not the part about pissing in the sink. I'm not sure if a sink-pissing ghost would be scary or funny or just unhygienic.):laugh: :D :laugh:
Gee, thanks. You're telling me I'm getting old prematurely. ...
(On a more serious, topic-related note, I'm glad someone else noticed this detail. I've written elsewhere that I feel it's one indication that the prologue takes place many years, perhaps a decade at least, after Jack's death, and that Ennis is still alone--no finding another male lover.)
I never read the thread on DCF, but I did discuss this idea with a forum member in person once. I was facinated. I just want to share one metaphor idea that was introduced to me: The trailer is his coffin, and the wind making the gravel hit the trailer is the dirt being shoveled on his "coffin".....
Awright, it's 5 in the morning here and this may not sound as coherent as I would like but here goes anyways ...
Annie Proulx wrote a short story. Every word has meaning, I accept. But the use of symbolism is more a Ang Lee thing. The many mataphores are the product of the movie version of BbM. Annie put a lot of wind in BbM to help us feel we were in Wyoming - as she does with most of her other Wyoming stories. To say that Jack is the wind in the prologue is extrapolating from the movie, not the book, and the discussion this week's suppose to be focussing on the prologue, which is strictly a short story happening. I do not think of the many metaphores when reading the short story and so, I remain the the camp of those who do not see any reason to think that Ennis is on the lastlegday of his life in the prologue.
Maybe it's an emotional response on my part (I want him to continue to live), but that's how I feel about the current discussion.
Maybe it's an emotional response on my part (I want him to continue to live), but that's how I feel about the current discussion.
The keys were also mentioned, I think as the offer of a choice of a new life, and a parallel with the keys thrown at him by Aguirre was also mentioned, giving him the choice of a life with Jack. As I write this I just realise this could well be the keys to love, thrown by Aguirre and then the keys to death dropped in his hand by the shark - death that may well reunite him with Jack, so these are perhaps again the keys to love...
...
What I have noticed since Heath's passing is that I no long feel that way. With the passingof the actor that played his character, it feels like Ennis Del Mar is gone too.
Ever since my first viewing of the movie, I have thought of Ennis Del Mar as a living entity out there in the world somewhere, grown old and in declining health. I thought of him as a relic, the survivor of the two.
What I have noticed since Heath's passing is that I no long feel that way. With the passingof the actor that played his character, it feels like Ennis Del Mar is gone too.
Absolutely not. There is nothing in the prologue that suggests death whatsoever.
Ever since my first viewing of the movie, I have thought of Ennis Del Mar as a living entity out there in the world somewhere, grown old and in declining health. I thought of him as a relic, the survivor of the two.
What I have noticed since Heath's passing is that I no long feel that way. With the passingof the actor that played his character, it feels like Ennis Del Mar is gone too.
To me that shows that he is hanging on...because as long as he lives, Jack lives.
With the passingof the actor that played his character, it feels like Ennis Del Mar is gone too.