Jack and Ennis: ECONOMIC DIVIDE, HELPING HAND?

[serious crayons]

What I wish Jack would have done is buy himself a place to live near Riverton.

[rtprod]

Yes, lat, now that is a good idea.  Why not?  Or even his own cabin so there would be somewhere other than the "friggin cold" to be together in.

Nice one.

rt   

[MaineWriter]

Putting a whole different spin on this...Jack correctly saw, especially at the end, that they had no relationship. Yes, they were in love but their "relationship" was "a couple of high altitude f3cks once or twice a year." For him to offer Ennis money, no matter how nicely or tactfully done, could be perceived by both as paying for sex. Jack as the John, Ennis as the prostitute. Not a nice image at all.

L

[MaineWriter]

I've only read about half of the other stories in Close Range, but it strikes me that Annie Proulx writes a lot about characters who are tied, in some way that they don't understand and don't choose, to the landscape. There's a sense of being unable to escape Wyoming in her stories, and I think Ennis in particular fits in with those characters quite well. (Except that Ennis and Jack are much more likeable than her other characters -- I like her writing, but Ennis and Jack are the only ones of her characters that I really ache for.)

It's not just the landscape. I think it is very hard for a person with limited education, no economic advantage, and no worldview to break away from what exists as reality. Certainly this is impossible for Ennis to do, as we see. Even his daughter is basically heading down the same path.

Interesting, in my own life: my son is a senior in HS. He and all his friends have all made the decision about college for next year. Back in the fall, they were talking about Hawaii, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts...you name it, anywhere but Maine. Now that the dust has settled, guess what? The vast majority are staying right here. Some are going to Orono, but quite a few are choosing the local option and plan to live at home and commute. The process has been interesting too--and the roles the parents have played. One girl desparately wanted to go out of state--she was basically bribed by her parents with a new car to stay put. Another kid was bribed by his grandparents with money for tuition.

You'd think these are kids with some advantage (education and money) but it looks like many of them will end up in Westbrook, ME for the rest of their lives. Yes, they will have better jobs than Ennis and hopefully a bit more money, but is the situation all that different?

BTW, my son is leaving...heading a private, liberal arts college in New York. And I'll probably be working for the rest of my life to pay for it. LOL!

L
xo

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've only read about half of the other stories in Close Range, but it strikes me that Annie Proulx writes a lot about characters who are tied, in some way that they don't understand and don't choose, to the landscape. There's a sense of being unable to escape Wyoming in her stories, and I think Ennis in particular fits in with those characters quite well. (Except that Ennis and Jack are much more likeable than her other characters -- I like her writing, but Ennis and Jack are the only ones of her characters that I really ache for.)

It's not just the landscape. I think it is very hard for a person with limited education, no economic advantage, and no worldview to break away from what exists as reality. Certainly this is impossible for Ennis to do, as we see. Even his daughter is basically heading down the same path.

Interesting, in my own life: my son is a senior in HS. He and all his friends have all made the decision about college for next year. Back in the fall, they were talking about Hawaii, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts...you name it, anywhere but Maine. Now that the dust has settled, guess what? The vast majority are staying right here. Some are going to Orono, but quite a few are choosing the local option and plan to live at home and commute. The process has been interesting too--and the roles the parents have played. One girl desparately wanted to go out of state--she was basically bribed by her parents with a new car to stay put. Another kid was bribed by his grandparents with money for tuition.

You'd think these are kids with some advantage (education and money) but it looks like many of them will end up in Westbrook, ME for the rest of their lives. Yes, they will have better jobs than Ennis and hopefully a bit more money, but is the situation all that different?

BTW, my son is leaving...heading a private, liberal arts college in New York. And I'll probably be working for the rest of my life to pay for it. LOL!

L
xo

Perceptive and enlightening, Leslie! Great contribution to the discussion! 

[cmr107]

Interesting, in my own life: my son is a senior in HS. He and all his friends have all made the decision about college for next year. Back in the fall, they were talking about Hawaii, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts...you name it, anywhere but Maine. Now that the dust has settled, guess what? The vast majority are staying right here. Some are going to Orono, but quite a few are choosing the local option and plan to live at home and commute. The process has been interesting too--and the roles the parents have played. One girl desparately wanted to go out of state--she was basically bribed by her parents with a new car to stay put. Another kid was bribed by his grandparents with money for tuition.

That's how it was with my friends when we went to college. I'm from southern IL, close to St. Louis, MO. Out of my group of friends, one went to Georgia, one to Connecticut, one to Washington DC, and I went to Chicago (300 miles away from home). Almost everyone else I know went somewhere really close to home. Some live on their respective campuses (campi?), but many go to local colleges and live at home. Some of them were bribed with cars and tuition money.

My school has about 2,600 students, and only about 800 are residents. The rest commute. Among those 800, MANY of them live close by and go home most, if not all, weekends. One time I was talking to a commuter and she was talking about how nice it was to eat dinner at home because our cafeteria is so bad. I mentioned that I live 300 miles away so that isn't really an option for me, and she said "oh, that's too bad." I just thought, um, no it isn't, I wanted to leave. I almost wish I went farther away. It has nothing to do with my parents, in fact I probably like my parents more than most people my age. I just think it's a good experience to go away to college. It makes me feel kind of isolated from other students here. Luckily, my best friend here lives about 45 minutes away from me in Missouri, so we drive home together. It's a weird feeling here sometimes.

That's cool that your son is going to New York Leslie. I thought about going there. Decided I would probably like Chicago better though.

[delalluvia]

As for the question of why Ennis didn't take a better job... is there anybody here who left a rural place and doesn't regret leaving the close-mindedness, but misses something else about the place? The landscape, maybe, or the way the food tasted, or the accent, or the amazing number of stars you can see at night? Is there anybody from a city who dreams of running off and starting an organic farm, or raising llamas or something?

The way I see it is... Ennis just is Wyoming in a way, an older Wyoming that is disappearing. He's good with animals (he looks so good on a horse... mmmm), he's a good shot with a rifle, he can read the weather (in the short story, at least; I can't remember an instance of it in the movie). But he's not good at reading (he's far-sighted in the story). Would he be good at a power company job, working regular shifts, doing the same repeated tasks? He certainly didn't look very happy when he was doing road construction work, and that's still outside, at least.

I've only read about half of the other stories in Close Range, but it strikes me that Annie Proulx writes a lot about characters who are tied, in some way that they don't understand and don't choose, to the landscape. There's a sense of being unable to escape Wyoming in her stories, and I think Ennis in particular fits in with those characters quite well.

Ditto.  IMO, Ennis LIKED ranch work.  He wasn't working on a time clock, but could be with animals, under the big sky and not have to worry about people judging him on his lack of money, lack of desire for conversation, his clothes, his lack of education or finally his sexuality.  Perhaps he was hiding and ranch work was the best place to do it and he grew to like it.  Dunno.

[Jeff Wrangler]

IMO, Ennis LIKED ranch work.

Ennis did like ranch work. According to the AP original, he positively yearned for it.

[serious crayons]

Ditto.  IMO, Ennis LIKED ranch work.  He wasn't working on a time clock, but could be with animals, under the big sky and not have to worry about people judging him on his lack of money, lack of desire for conversation, his clothes, his lack of education or finally his sexuality.  Perhaps he was hiding and ranch work was the best place to do it and he grew to like it.  Dunno.

And, presumably, he was good at it. He seemed pretty responsible and hard working -- too much so, one might argue. But it was probably one of the few areas in his life where he felt in control and sure of himself and, on a limited scale, successful.

[Ellemeno]

Thanks for this thread.  Just some thoughts:

We don't ever see an example of either of them giving each other a thing, other than what they share while they are together.  In fact, Jack takes one of Ennis's only two shirts.

And in later years Jack is always warmly dressed in vests and thick parka, and Ennis is in a canvas jacket.  Brr.  Actually even up on the mountain young Jack had that warm jacket and Ennis was in canvas. 

There's a thoughtlessness to Jack around money, the way he complains about what's the point of making it, and Lureen searching for extra zeros.  Ennis doesn't seem envious or bitter, he just says it sounds like some high class entertainment, meaning a high quality problem.

Another financial advantage Jack has until the end of his life is living parents with a place he can come and stay anytime he wants, something Ennis lost very young. 

Jack was a pragmatist, marrying Lureen, and staying with her, enduring old man Newsome, for the security.  I think he was fond of Lureen in the early years, and stayed fairly respectful of her, but I think that he stayed in the marriage for the financial security and the pretty clothes and jewelry he could thus afford.

Just thought of something else I want to add - I think Ennis really is stating his credo when he tells Junior, when you don't got nothin you don't need nothin.  So partly he is truly an ascetic, but partly it's just emotionally safer to not want.