The Sink

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Okay, I don't recall this one ever being discussed:

Why did Ennis urninate in the sink?

 

[mvansand76]

Okay, I don't recall this one ever being discussed:

Why did Ennis urninate in the sink?

 

Otherwise he would have had to go outside and it was cold and windy outside? 

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Otherwise he would have had to go outside and it was cold and windy outside? 

Perhaps.

In the movie we see a toilet in the back ground, but in the short story it has that descripition of his releiving himself. It makes me think his trailer is much smaller, maybe even like a camper, or a caravan I think it is called in Europe in a English-centric way.

[Front-Ranger]

Maybe it's related to the leftover coffee he warms up. On Brokeback Mountain, he drank fresh perked coffee and urinated in nature; in the flatlands, he drank leftover coffee and urinated in the sink. Contrasting his two different lives.

Also remember that Alma turns on the faucet in the story after she said, "That line hadn't touched water in its life."

[opinionista]

Okay, I don't recall this one ever being discussed:

Why did Ennis urninate in the sink?

 

He probably had no toilet in the trailer. I've never been in a trailer, I've only seen them in movies so I don't know much about it.

[Penthesilea]

Perhaps.

In the movie we see a toilet in the back ground, but in the short story it has that descripition of his releiving himself. It makes me think his trailer is much smaller, maybe even like a camper, or a caravan I think it is called in Europe in a English-centric way.

Like these?




The pic is from you  . I found it here:

When I think about the wind blowing down the curved length of the trailer, I have a vision of the type of trailers below. I imagine on a ranch they would have a few old trailers like these in leiu of a bunkhouse or something else.

BTW: this is the type of trailer I also picture when reading the words "the curved length of the traier"




On the topic of the sink peeing: I agree with most people that Ennis's trailer probably didn't have a toilet. This would be the practical answer.
Still leaves the question, why Annie Proulx included it in her short story. I think for one it's part of the gritty realism which marks all her stories in Close Range. Rough-mannered and rough-spoken are the men she writes about as well as the style she chooses to do so.
Another reason is it shows Ennis's lack of material goods.

And it has something sad to it. A sense of not caring, of being impassive. Just letting the days go by ...
Which I think is Ennis's state of mind after Jack't death.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Exactly, I don't know why that did not occure to me at the time. I believe now the Ennis of the story had running water, but not toilet facilities. 

[cricket99999]

I believe now the Ennis of the story had running water, but not toilet facilities.   

Really?  Then where does he go "number two"?  I assumed he had toilet facilities, but pissed in the sink if he felt like it.  "Fuck it, why not."  Maybe it saved him a step or two.  He's a bachelor, lives alone, depressed, sets his own rules, etc.

?

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Really?  Then where does he go "number two"?  I assumed he had toilet facilities, but pissed in the sink if he felt like it.  "Fuck it, why not."  Maybe it saved him a step or two.  He's a bachelor, lives alone, depressed, sets his own rules, etc.

?

Well that could be too, I had in mind there might be an outhouse somewhere.

[myprivatejack]

Really?  Then where does he go "number two"?  I assumed he had toilet facilities, but pissed in the sink if he felt like it.  "Fuck it, why not."  Maybe it saved him a step or two.  He's a bachelor, lives alone, depressed, sets his own rules, etc.
?

That's right.He felt depressed,but at the same time,he felt free to do as he pleased.A man alone who had been educated in a rigid -and wrong- sense of masculinity,ended by being a real mess in his daily routine,without nobody by his side or nothing in his future to fight for.

[Front-Ranger]

That's right.He felt depressed,but at the same time,he felt free to do as he pleased.A man alone who had been educated in a rigid -and wrong- sense of masculinity,ended by being a real mess in his daily routine,without nobody by his side or nothing in his future to fight for.

You're right, friend. I think Ennis said it all when he replied to Junior, "When you ain't got nothin, you don't need nothin."

[myprivatejack]

You're right, friend. I think Ennis said it all when he replied to Junior, "When you ain't got nothin, you don't need nothin."

You´re welcome . Although I must add that in my post I am not saying that men,as a gender,were such a pigs... I was referring only to a certain kind of men in a certain kind of environment and with a certain kind of education.I guess you understand me...

[cricket99999]

I'm thinking AP did this to emphasize Ennis's masculinity, and coarse behavior.  At this point, the reader does not know this will be a gay character.  Sink pissing is in contrast to stereotypical gay male behavior, which is refined/cultured/civilized.   

[Front-Ranger]

Also, maybe to suggest that his life was going "down the drain." 

[optom3]

Also, maybe to suggest that his life was going "down the drain." 

I think that is a pretty good analogy, except at that point in the book we  have no idea of the magnitude of all he has  lost.
It  says "he is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream"

I always think the prologue is full of opposites.Why would such a rugged and masculine man, as he is initially portrayed, eg. urinating in the sink, pulling on his jeans and boots, be so happy to have had a dream about a man. From those very first two paragraphs we are immediately aware of the fact that this will be no ordinary tale.
Or is it just because I know the story and film so well, my judgement is being coloured ??
 I do remember the first time I read the story, I was pulled up short by the mention of Jack Twist.
So after all this rambling, I think maybe it is about contrasts, the rough down at heel masculinity of Ennis initially, before we are thrown for a loop by him dreaming of a man, and being so happy about it  that he wants to hang onto that dream for the whole day, to rewarm him.

Then I think again and wonder, could it be all about temperature. There is something very "cold" and souless about the image of Ennis urinating in the sink, contrasting with the rewarmed coffee, which very nearly boils over, and the dream rewarming his time on the mountain.The coffee nearly boiling over, but caught just in time.A curious similarity to Ennis, who throughout his time with Jack, almost lets his emotions boil over, then reins them back in again.In direct contradiction to his, "there's no reins on this one " quote.

Oh well I have managed yet again with this glorious masterpiece to talk myself through multiple interpretations !!!!!! It goes back to Proulx herself intimating that each reader will have a slightly different interpretation of the story. I would go so far as to say, each time I think of it, I have yet another idea, it is like peeling an onion and revealing layer apon layer.Like all truly great writers, she has given us a literary piece which will forever leave us questioning. I like that.
By the end of the book we do know that pretty well everything he cared for has gone down the drain.