How Did Jack Die?

[Phillip Dampier]

This poll came as a suggestion in e-mail from one of our new members.  It is perhaps THE question more people talk about than any other in Brokeback Mountain.

[RouxB]

Jack died???!!

 

[serious crayons]

Good idea for a poll. But Phillip, if it's not too late you might want to add an option for agnostics -- those who think we aren't supposed to know the answer.

[ednbarby]

While I think a definitive answer isn't necessary to feel the full impact of the tragedy, which is that Jack died because of Ennis' fears (he wouldn't have died at that particular time in whatever way it was he died if Ennis had done what he wanted), I maintain that it was the tire iron.  I maintain this because I think the Jimbo/bar scene was intended to foreshadow it.  But I also concede that I could very well be wrong. 

[JennyC]

Good idea for a poll. But Phillip, if it's not too late you might want to add an option for agnostics -- those who think we aren't supposed to know the answer.

Ditto.  I support this whole heartly. 

[moremojo]

Ditto.  I support this whole heartly. 

I concur. Like Ennis, we cannot know with certainty how Jack died, and this is part of what makes the story so haunting.

[Rayn]

     There is a part in the book that concludes that Ennis believes without doubt that it was the tire iron.  When Jack's father says on page 282 of Open Range, 'But like most a Jack's ideas, it never come to pass.'  So now he (Ennis) knew it had been the tire iron."   But how he knew isn't clear. 

     I believe that Ennis' fear from the childhood experience of seeing poor Earle murdered was so deep seated that he could never overcome it and it led him to believe "It had been the tire iron", but he had no real way of knowing for sure which is why the story ends with, "There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it.."   

     The scene of Jack being murdered was a flash in Ennis' imagination, a flash fed by that deep seated fear.  I also felt the Lureen believed what she has been told: that Jack was killed by the exploding tire.  Her difficulty when speaking with Ennis arises only when she realizes that Ennis and Jack herded sheep on Brokeback Mt where Jack wanted his ashes left.  Her anger toward Ennis is the realization that he, not she, was closer to Jack.  She is also hurt by this fact which is why she hung up on him so abruptly.

     What do I believe about how Jack died?   I don't think there is any way to really know; all I know is it's the saddest damn thing that could have happened, but the accident and the murder are both real possibilities and I miss Jack like the devil misses heaven.

Rayn

[Rayn]

Like Ennis, we cannot know with certainty how Jack died, and this is part of what makes the story so haunting.

Yes, exactly, but see post below for why I agree.

Rayn

[j.U.d.E.]

Jack died???!!

 

 

Only in the story/movie, RouxB! He's alive in our hearts!!

~ j U d E

[slayers_creek_oth]

I don't know myself....kind of have mixed emotions on the subject...