Questions about the beginning of the story/film

[Brown Eyes]

The more I think about it... it's pretty interesting to ponder the situation that Lightning Flat is given a lot of prominence in the film.  There's no question as to where Jack is from.  But, explicit references to Sage are erased.  It's an interesting imbalance.

[Mandy21]

Well, Amanda, my interpretation of that imbalance is that we, the viewer, are shown that Jack is obviously the more demonstrative half of the relationship.  He's kind of all over the place, isn't he, laying out his plume feathers, so to speak?  Perhaps we need some stability, some set background, to place him against, so that we can keep track.  I think we're almost hoping that he grew up in an incredibly predictable, boring world.  Which would explain clearly his gigantic need for excitement as sustenance.  Ennis, on the other hand, plays his part so quietly, pragmatically, we really don't need to know where he's from.  It's written all over him, by the way he turned out.  Quiet, scared, lost, empty, searching, needing...  I can see quite clearly without having to know the names of the towns, where these two boys came from.

[BlissC]

Well, Amanda, my interpretation of that imbalance is that we, the viewer, are shown that Jack is obviously the more demonstrative half of the relationship.  He's kind of all over the place, isn't he, laying out his plume feathers, so to speak?  Perhaps we need some stability, some set background, to place him against, so that we can keep track.  I think we're almost hoping that he grew up in an incredibly predictable, boring world.  Which would explain clearly his gigantic need for excitement as sustenance.

That's an interesting interpretation - I'd not thought about it like that before. I guess with him working all over Wyoming, on the rodeo circuit, and eventually moving to Texas he does kind of need a "base" that ties the different strands of his life together, and I think you're right, the desolation of Lightening Flat probably does explain a lot about his need for excitement. Annie describes him as "crazy to be somewhere, anywhere else than Lightening Flat".

Ennis, on the other hand, plays his part so quietly, pragmatically, we really don't need to know where he's from.  It's written all over him, by the way he turned out.  Quiet, scared, lost, empty, searching, needing...

Again, spot on. Annie says, right near the start of the story that they were both products of where they grew up, or words to that effect.

I've just realised as well, looking at the prologue to the story, that though obviously the prologue's right at the end of the story chronologically, it does say that the ranch where Ennis is working is being sold off and he might have to go and stay with his married daughter (presumably Alma Jnr) until he finds more work, which I guess in a way answers my original question about where they'd be living if they weren't working. Funny how you miss those little details unless you're looking closely.