Author Topic: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?  (Read 21925 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #30 on: June 07, 2007, 07:37:30 pm »
Wasn't intended to be. I'm not backing away from the "verbal gay bashing" I think he gives Ennis. Just that I also see him as potentially willfully turning a blind eye and putting up with it out of self-interest. Who knows but what maybe his attitude would have given a bit if Jack's verbal musings had come to pass. But they didn't and I'm not backing off a bit from how I see John Twist in "what actually happened."

Oh well.  I thought I'd seen an opening for a tiny détente. Guess not.  :-\

But really, that's OK. Sounds like we're both pretty satisfied with our own interpretations. And one of BBM's best qualities is its ability to support, even encourage, varied interpretations -- there's a thousand of 'em.  ;)



Offline Clyde-B

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #31 on: June 07, 2007, 08:40:05 pm »
  Her eyes seem to be always watching OMT to see if she has done or said something wrong!

I don't think she's worried for herself.  She's lived with OMT for what, 40 years? 

I think she worried about what OMT might try to do to Ennis or what Ennis might do to him if they got into it.

If you look real close at the expression on her face when she says "You come back and see us again."
(It's right after OMT has said the ashes are going in the family plot)  It's almost as if she's telling Ennis she'll have something more for him when he does (maybe the ashes?)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #32 on: June 07, 2007, 09:38:44 pm »
I guess what I think of John Twist depends on my assumptions about how he go to be such an SOB.

I always suspected that he hated Jack's dreaming because he had once been a dreamer himself, and life had hammered him so hard that there was no hope left in him and he was actually afraid to dream anymore.  Lightning Flat looks like a place so desolate that it could just suck the life right out of you.  I wonder why such a sweet woman as Jack's mother ever married him.  Was it her only choice, or had things at one time been different?

The one thing I liked about Lightning Flat, that Ennis never knew, was that it looked almost as remote and uncivilized as Brokeback, and maybe they would have actually have had a chance there.

How did I miss this commentary before, Clyde-B? That's very poignant and thoughtful. It's certainly true, we don't know how John Twist got to be the person we see--and I'd never really given it any thought.

I have wondered about Jack's mother. She and John Twist seem so ... mismatched.  :(
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #33 on: June 07, 2007, 09:41:07 pm »
If you look real close at the expression on her face when she says "You come back and see us again."
(It's right after OMT has said the ashes are going in the family plot)  It's almost as if she's telling Ennis she'll have something more for him when he does (maybe the ashes?)

I've thought that it almost looks as though she's begging Ennis to come back.  :(
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #34 on: June 07, 2007, 11:35:00 pm »
I've thought that it almost looks as though she's begging Ennis to come back.  :(

Me, too. As much for her own sake as Ennis'.

Offline loneleeb3

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #35 on: June 08, 2007, 08:06:09 am »
Me, too. As much for her own sake as Ennis'.
I agree with that. Can you  imagine how lonely she must be.
No one else but that mean ole SOAWB???
I think she would want to talk about Jack and hear Ennis' stories about the good times they had.
I doubt OMT even lets her mention his name.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #36 on: June 08, 2007, 08:35:49 am »
Me, too. As much for her own sake as Ennis'.

Absolutely. She loved her son, and she knows how much Ennis meant to Jack. She has nobody to share that with.  :'(
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Clyde-B

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #37 on: June 08, 2007, 08:42:35 am »

I doubt OMT even lets her mention his name.

I wonder if she calls him OMT!   :laugh:

Offline loneleeb3

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #38 on: June 08, 2007, 08:43:52 am »
I wonder if she calls him OMT!   :laugh:

LOL! I'm sure she has some other names she calls him. :laugh:
"The biggest obstacle to most of us achieving our dreams isn't reality, it's our own fear"

"Saint Paul had his Epiphany on the road to Damascus, Mine was on Brokeback Mountain"

Offline serious crayons

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Re: What would it take to help Ennis be OK about himself?
« Reply #39 on: June 08, 2007, 08:44:40 am »
LOL! I'm sure she has some other names she calls him. :laugh:

Maybe that's where Jack first heard SOAWB!  :laugh: