Author Topic: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB  (Read 12744 times)

Offline Luvlylittlewing

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #30 on: July 11, 2006, 10:00:38 pm »
One of my favorite lines, a line that always haunts me is,

He could smell Jack - the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes, musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of the mountain.

Just imagine Ennis responding to his lover's smell!  Even after 4 years he  remembers the special scent of the person he loves above all others. 

And with it the rushing cold of the mountain..

Brings sort of a mystical quality to it all.  You can almost feel the cold - it must have chilled Ennis to the bone!  Wonderful!
« Last Edit: July 11, 2006, 10:03:24 pm by littlewing1957 »

Offline Amber

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #31 on: July 12, 2006, 12:32:55 am »
A lot of the ones mentioned definitely make my list - but I have a few more as well.

"Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved." - I think that line just speaks volumes about their relationship at the end.  I wish they could have begun and resolved things but it wasn't meant to be.  Painful.

The other is one from my signature.  I'd include the entire passage but it's rather long - I will however give a little more text.

"... and still they clenched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg toghether, treading on each other's toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, little darlin."  I can just see Ennis whispering this to Jack ... I'm kind of disappointed they didn't include this in the movie, but I also see why they did not.  It just wouldn't have fit.  Still, it's one of my favorite parts of the book.
"... and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, little darlin." ~Proulx

"Life is not a succession of urgents nows; it is a listless trickle of why-should-I's."  Johnny Depp as the Second Earl of Rochester.

mvansand76

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #32 on: July 12, 2006, 09:05:35 am »
As they descended the slope Ennis felt he was in a slow-motion, but headlong irreversible fall."


I love that line, it shows the meaning of falling in love, you can't control it...
« Last Edit: July 12, 2006, 09:30:59 am by mvansand76 »

Offline nakymaton

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #33 on: October 13, 2006, 10:59:18 am »
Bump in celebration of the anniversary of the publication of the short story!

There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it.
Watch out. That poster has a low startle point.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #34 on: October 13, 2006, 01:14:38 pm »
Thanks for the bump, Mel! Among many others, I like, "...nothing he'd done before but no instruction manual needed." It's a very guy-way to describe the action!!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Toast

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Happy Ninth Brokeback
« Reply #35 on: October 13, 2006, 03:43:47 pm »
The New Yorker Magazine

Just a note to remind everyone that it was on October 13, 1997
NINE YEARS AGO
that Annie Proulx saw the publication of
Brokeback Mountain
in this edition of The New Yorker Magazine.

since then it has appeared in their magazine as
a movie review,
a spoken word recording by Suzy Amis
and grist for their cartoons

What if I dont want to be Jack or Ennis.


Thank You Annie and The  New Yorker
for getting Brokeback off to a start.


Offline RebelWithASmile

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #36 on: October 13, 2006, 08:33:29 pm »
I love the ending when Proulx says Jack started to appear in Ennis's dreams. Its so sad, and i always cry when i read it. I also, of course love the whole 'sexless embrace' scene, she really out did anything i have ever read with that scene alone! She is very good.
"He was very afraid of being hurt. He was afraid of opening up in case it was turned around and used against him."


Heaven holds a sense of wonder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0VVoScBd4k

Offline Rutella

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #37 on: October 14, 2006, 12:07:38 pm »
I have so many favourite lines I can't quote them all (and most of them have been written already) but the prologue hits me so hard, because the first paragraph is full of detail forming this amazing picture of Ennis' desolate life but then finishes with "but he is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream". I think this is one of the best beginnings to a story ever because it sums up Ennis, and Ennis and Jack's relationship, and perfectly sets up the story. Sometimes I just read that part before going to sleep and then I too dream of J&E.

Another favourite is from when Ennis finds the shirts:

"He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands"

I love the alliteration here with the smoke, sage and best of all the 'salty sweet stink' and I adore the reference to the 'imagined power' and the way this links with Jack's comment that all they've got is Brokeback. And there in lies the tragedy. 

Offline opinionista

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #38 on: October 15, 2006, 03:53:22 pm »
There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.

This is my favorite line. I find it beautiful and symbolic.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Lynne

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Re: Favorite lines from Proulx's story- an Ode to TOB
« Reply #39 on: December 17, 2006, 04:16:27 am »
Hey all you new members!  Post about your favorite lines here!

There's not a bad line, IMO, but one I like is from the prologue:

'...yet he is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream...[he] lets a panel of the dream slide forward.  If he does not force his attention on it, it might stoke the day, rewarm that old, cold time on the mountain when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong.'
« Last Edit: December 17, 2006, 05:09:02 am by Lynne »
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