TOTW 17/07: Why didn't Jack offer Ennis a ride when they got down the mountain?

[Penthesilea]

Mornin all,

this week, we have yet another topic suggested by a BetterMost resident  . Thank you, Souxi, for this topic!

Before we start with the TOTW, I'd like to give you a gentle reminder about going off-topic: it's fine to let threads meander and to gow with the flow. Such side discussions have often brought great insights and sometimes even new perpectives on the original topic. But I don't encourage throwing random topics into the mix.


Now on with Souxi's question:

Why didn't Jack offer Ennis a ride when they got down the mountain?


Obviously, this question is movie-only because in the story, they both had trucks. Another difference to the story is that they both headed into the same direction in the movie, at least for the moment Ang Lee showed us. Offering a ride would not be so far off in this situation. So why didn't Jack do it?

[Katie77]

I have always thought it was a bit weird that Jack did not give Ennis a ride, especially as, in the movie, they were going the same way.....

I guess if the story said they each had a truck, so obviosly, there was no more conversation between them until they finally met again four years later....if Jack had given Ennis a ride in the movie, and they had had some conversation....then that may have changed the whole concept of the story....

Makes you wonder why Ang just didnt give Ennis a truck, and keep to the original story...

[Aussie Chris]

Makes you wonder why Ang just didnt give Ennis a truck, and keep to the original story...

Ah yes, but then we wouldn't have had that iconic image of Ennis in Jack's rear-view mirror...

[Katie77]

You know Chris, as soon as I typed that, I thought exactly the same thing.................

[Artiste]

Jack, in some ways, did offer Ennis a ride!

Hugs!

[Katie77]

Jack, in some ways, did offer Ennis a ride!

Hugs!

That he did Artiste......that he did.........and there were'nt no reins on that one

[Penthesilea]

One practical reason why Jack didn't offer Ennis a ride possibly was that they were indeed heading in opposite directions, even if not for the brief moment Ang Lee showed us.

Assuming Ten Sleep is indeed Signal and Ennis turned towards Riverton, their destinations were opposite from Signal:



So even if Jack had offered Ennis a ride, it would have lasted only a few hundred meters till the next crossing.


But of course there's more to it than that. The opening question has bugged me also for a while, combined with the inevitable "What might have been....."
I think one important reason why Jack acted the way he did is given by Ang Lee himself (paraphrasing): they were both cowboys. They didn't talk about their feelings; non-verbal communication is important; and they had pride. What's true for the whole movie is also true for this scene.

I think pride was a crucial factor here. Jack already had taken the punch from Ennis earlier, and was apparently and understandably pi**ed about it. Look at his face when they descent with the sheep.
Then, while standing beside his truck, Jack is all cautious and hesitant. And he makes one last attempt when he asks Ennis whether he's going to do this again next summer. And even after Ennis's negatory answer (which wasn't totally negatory, btw) he half-tries again with "I might be back ... if the army don't get me." He leaves a door open. Ennis at least knows where to find Jack next summer if he wants to.

I think Jack has gone as far as he thought he could without begging. I think to him Ennis seemed to be determined to not keep their relationship in any form. And therefore Jack must have doubted Ennis's feelings, respectively must have assumed it was just a one-shot-thing for Ennis for the summer, as he had said before. Understandable that he didn't ask Ennis anything more, not even offer a ride.

What Jack didn't realise, imo, was that Ennis was almost as reluctant and full of doubt as Jack. He didn't say no to Jack's question of doing this again next summer, he said 'Maybe not.' And he didn't directly go after he had said "Guess I'll see you around." He lingered and waited - for what? Another word from Jack? Another try? Maybe he even hoped for a ride, no matter how short?

Ennis didn't want to go and leave Jack behind once and for all, he thought he had to. Big difference.

[Artiste]

Penthesilea, you say: Ennis didn't want to go and leave Jack behind once and for all, he thought he had to. Big difference.
...

May I say that (the above) is so too, it seems to me, for Jack!! ?? At least in the movie. But same in the book?


Hugs!

[Katie77]

Wow,Penthesilea, I have watched that scene a hundred times, and felt so many things about it and what was happening, and  now you have just brilliantly put every one of those thoughts down in words...

I think pride was a crucial factor here. Jack already had taken the punch from Ennis earlier, and was apparently and understandably pi**ed about it. Look at his face when they descent with the sheep.
Then, while standing beside his truck, Jack is all cautious and hesitant. And he makes one last attempt when he asks Ennis whether he's going to do this again next summer. And even after Ennis's negatory answer (which wasn't totally negatory, btw) he half-tries again with "I might be back ... if the army don't get me." He leaves a door open. Ennis at least knows where to find Jack next summer if he wants to.

How many of us sat there, trying to push the two of them together, thinking to ourselves "talk to each other, damwell talk to each other, dont let this end, make some future arrangements"........but we could see the standofishness they both were feeling, or as you say, pride.

Then, while standing beside his truck, Jack is all cautious and hesitant. And he makes one last attempt when he asks Ennis whether he's going to do this again next summer. And even after Ennis's negatory answer (which wasn't totally negatory, btw) he half-tries again with "I might be back ... if the army don't get me." He leaves a door open. Ennis at least knows where to find Jack next summer if he wants to.

I think Jack has gone as far as he thought he could without begging. I think to him Ennis seemed to be determined to not keep their relationship in any form. And therefore Jack must have doubted Ennis's feelings, respectively must have assumed it was just a one-shot-thing for Ennis for the summer, as he had said before. Understandable that he didn't ask Ennis anything more, not even offer a ride.

didn't want to go and leave Jack behind once and for all, he thought he had to. Big difference.

The embarrassed half smile on Jacks face here, shows us that he feels he is on he brink of begging and he smiles to cover it up....I cringe a bit every time  I see that smile.....Ennis gave him no help at all, except to keep standing there, waiting for Jack to make the moves or say what they both wanted to say.....very very frustrating.....

We could tell that neither of them wanted to end it there....in Ennis's mind, he could not see past Novemeber, when he was gonna marry Alma....at least Jack had planned in his mind that he would come back next year....they mumbled and beat around he bush so much that we felt like shaking the two of them into some sort of conversation.....

By Ang, not having Jack give Ennis a ride, the final part of the scene, gave us the scenario that they were back to where they were before the whole Brokeback experience "got em,  .....Jack in his truck, and Ennis on the road.......the rearview mirror scene did the same thing.....In the beginning Jack looked at Ennis in the mirror (while he was shaving), and at the end, Jack was once again looking at Ennis in the mirror.....

To the outside world, everything was the same ...... made to look like they were still the same two young men who arrived there........that really was not the case, as shown by the look on Jacks face as he drove away, and shown by the emotional breakdown of Ennis as he crouched in the lane....

[huntinbuddy]

Earlier, when Ennis comes down from the sheep, and Jack is taking down the tent; Ennis bitches about losing a months worth of pay, because of the sheepherding season being cut short.  Jack offers to loan Ennis some money when they get to Signal, and Ennis gets pissed about that. 

Then we have the fateful scene where Jack and Ennis get into a playful match, that turns violent as we see the short fuse that Ennis has.

By the time they get back to Signal, I don't think Jack is afraid of Ennis, but his heart wants to be with him, yet it seems he is afraid to ask or offer any additional help for Ennis, because of how he reacted to the money topic, and playing with the lasso.  I don't think he is afraid of getting his chops busted again, but just has all but given up on Ennis.  About all Jack can muster is to ask Ennis if he will be herding sheep again next summer.

I believe even if Jack would have offered Ennis a ride, Ennis's ego would have ruled, he would have refused....and still would have puked his guts out in the alley.