Broken in Two

[ednbarby]

that just made me think of the song in Hedwig.

"And, if we don't behave,
They'll tear us down again."

Jack dreamed further than fate would allow, and so he is torn in half yet again.

And this makes me think of a Peter Gabriel song called "Here Comes The Flood":

"And if we break before the dawn
They'll use up what we used to be."

 

[Brown Eyes]

There is a part of the story left out of the movie which gave me another clue to the naming of Brokeback Mountain. As Jack and Ennis relax together at the motel after reuniting, Jack tells Ennis why the Army "didn't get him" and he got out of rodeoing: "Got...a stress fracture, the arm bone here....Even if you tape it good, you break it a little goddam bit at a time. . . . Had a busted leg. Busted in three places. . . . Bunch a other things, f**kin busted ribs, sprains and pains, torn ligaments." Not only is Jack's body broken, but in the end his ashes were divided up, never to be made whole again, and far from Brokeback Mountain.

Well Jack's broken bones are even more literally tied to the title... when he describes his injuries in the motel scene, he begins by saying he has a broken back.  It's right before the part you quote. lol.  "They can't get no use out a me.  Got some crushed vertebrates."  I'm sure the word "brokeback" is meant to be at least slightly erotic and evocative (as people frequently note) in the way it sounds too.

This is a nice thread Front-Ranger.  I like your point about division as a general theme.  The ashes are a really good example.
 

[Front-Ranger]

Yes, you're right Amanda!

Now, my idea of why Annie Proulx named it Brokeback Mountain is a kind of humble beginnings setting to the story. Jack and Ennis met on the mountain and instead of it being a worthless place, site of failed attempts to cross the Rocky Mountains by pioneers, it became the turning point of their lives. Similar to the story of Jesus Christ being born in a manger.

[serious crayons]

For me, the name also carries a suggestion of a failed effort. You break your back trying futiley to accomplish something; that is, you are destroyed by the struggle. Brokeback was the idyllic place that Jack and Ennis could never make it back to, much as they (both!) might have wanted it, and eventually the struggle destroyed them. Does that make sense?

[TJ]

In one of her interviews or in one of her essays, Annie Proulx mentions seeing "Break Back" as the name of a mountain in Wyoming on a Wyoming topographical map.

[Front-Ranger]

Another sign of the West broken in two was the train that passed between us (viewers) and Ennis at the beginning of the movie. The transcontinental railway was an advancement that united the East and the West but it also split whole communities in two.

[Front-Ranger]

Somebody on TOB asked about the significance of the train, and here's what I wrote:

Interesting post, Kula. I also find it interesting that the train passes between the viewer and Ennis, separating us from him. Trains were also a divisive feature in rural towns, breaking them in two. After the trains came through, there was a "right" and a "wrong" side of the tracks. The railway crossed Wyoming and the West, "taming" the West and bringing in settlers who were at odds with the cowboy culture.

As we try to see Ennis through the gaps in the train cars, we see flickering light and dark screens, a constantly changing view. This is a harbinger of how the movie will unfold, with an interplay of opposite and complementary elements.

[TJ]

Edited statement - - - -> The transcontinental railway was an advancement that united the East and the West but it also split whole Native American tribal communities in two.

And, that railroad was also used to promote the shooting of buffalo from the train and the real purpose behind that was to destroy what the Indians relied on as both food, clothing and even shelter.

[serious crayons]

Also, with its rhythm and reference to brokenness, Brokeback hints of heartbreak.

[Ellemeno]

Not sure how it fits, but there's the sentence Jack says in the story, something like, "I ain't no broke dick rider."