Symbolism: Ennis and the mules

[Penthesilea]

Two things triggered a new thought for me during the past days. First was Mikaela's expression of Ennis tying himself into knots like he ties knots to affix the baggage on the mules. Second, I came on a bear the other day  Luckily it was only a picture of a bear standing in a small creek, similar to the one Ennis encounters.

The mules are a symbol for Ennis:

• The mules respectively the baggage on their backs are tied carefully into knots. Jack teases Ennis about the knot-tying before their departure to Brokeback. When we see Ennis ordering soup, we see him tying a knot on the mules again. And I think it's safe to assume that he dedicates the same accurateness to this like the first time.
  But when he comes on the bear, the mules shy away, the knots detach and the baggage gets lost. Long ago on TOB I saw a thread in which it was said, that the bear represents their relationship (wild and uncontrollable, and frighteing to Ennis).
  So Ennis the mule ties himself into knots as good as he can, he shies away from their relationship (again and again) like the mules from the bear. But like the mules and their baggage he gets lost in it nonetheless.
• When the mules shy away from the bear, our boys are deprived from good provisioning and all they have left are beans. When Ennis shies away from their relationship, they are deprived from the sweet life and all they have left is "once in a while way the hell out in the middle of nowhere". And Ennis is more willing to settle for beans and fishing trips than Jack is.
• Mules are known to be good-natured and willing to hard work - like Ennis.
• But they're also very stubborn from time to time
• Like the mules, Ennis has a lot of baggage in at least two ways: emotional baggage, his inner demons which keep him from "the sweet life". And he has a family which he is responsible for. And like the mules lose their baggage because of the bear, he loses his family because of his relationship with Jack.
• Even the "dumbass mules" expression can be translated on Ennis. Who of us has not thought "damn you Ennis, go for it, don't be stupid"? Well, I have and still do with every viewing.

[Mikaela]

Great post!

"Stubborn as a mule" certainly is one description of Ennis that comes relatively easily to mind.

I've been wondering about the soup and the beans. They seem to fit directly in with this mule and baggage symbolism.

Beans are the standard fare, the everyday ordinary life, that the outside world tells Ennis to stick to - and he says he will. Beans apparently are easily packed on the mules........... So: Less visible and external difficulties for Ennis the stubborn mule, both directly and symbolically. While Jack won't stick to beans, goes outside the ordinary and expected - and so Ennis orders soup despite that being hard to pack on the mules, harder to fit into the life he'd expected. Going with Jack's wishes for diversity in food and in life means more practical, emotional *and* symbolic challenges and difficulties for Ennis.


Is there more symbolism than reality in the film's differences in packing soup and  beans?

Why, in real life, would soup boxes be harder to pack than cans of beans? I don't know how the soup boxes look, but I suppose they'd either be square and easy to pack - or look much like the bean cans. And they'd not be heavier than the beans, either. Anyone able to shed light on this question?

[Front-Ranger]

I'll try to add to this....when the mules bolt, shedding their packs on the trail, Ennis runs after them, but then stops, pulls a large box out of the pack as if he wants to save it, then thinks better of it and throws it off to the side. That, I theorize, was a box of soup packets (dried). It was a pretty big box, so I think maybe that was the reason it was hard to pack. The script writers went to a lot of effort with this beans and soup thing, so there must be something behind it!!

[Penthesilea]

Is there more symbolism than reality in the film's differences in packing soup and  beans?

Why, in real life, would soup boxes be harder to pack than cans of beans? I don't know how the soup boxes look, but I suppose they'd either be square and easy to pack - or look much like the bean cans. And they'd not be heavier than the beans, either. Anyone able to shed light on this question?

I've always asked myself the same question. Why should it be harder to pack (soup)boxes than (bean)cans? Doesn't make sense in a practical way. So the next best conclusion is, that it makes sense in a symbolic way. And it does, like mentioned above by you (the 'beans are standard fare' paragraph).


Front-Ranger wrote:

I'll try to add to this....when the mules bolt, shedding their packs on the trail, Ennis runs after them, but then stops, pulls a large box out of the pack as if he wants to save it, then thinks better of it and throws it off to the side. That, I theorize, was a box of soup packets (dried). It was a pretty big box, so I think maybe that was the reason it was hard to pack.

Sorry, but I beg to differ on this. The bear incident occurred at the same day as Ennis orders soup for the first time. The Chilean is surprised by Ennis ordering soup: "Thought you don't eat soup?" Ennis: "Sick of beans." Chilean: "Too early in summer to be sick of beans."
Had Ennis ordered soup before, the Chilean would not have been surpised. So the box Ennis grabs can't be a soup box.

The script writers went to a lot of effort with this beans and soup thing, so there must be something behind it!!

Yep. Agreed!

[Brown Eyes]

Cool topic.  I think what you wrote in the initial post is a convincing interpretation Penthesilea.  So my question is ... if Ennis = mules and relationship = bear, then what is Jack's animal?  I think elk is also a symbol for their relationship... I think elk specifically functions as an aphrodisiac (I've posted about this in other thread), but I think elk could be expanded to be a symbol of their love.  I think the bear as a symbol of the entirety of their relationship (all the different aspects of making the relationship happen... not just the love) is very good.

[Front-Ranger]

Jack's animal is the eagle, IMHO.

[Toast]

I jsut found your post, and here is what I posted recently on the ABCs of Brokeback.:

As I watch the horse and mules and Ennis with the groceries spilled all over the trail, I think of Epona.
 
Epona - Celtic goddess of horses and mules and asses.

[Brown Eyes]

Jack's animal is the eagle, IMHO.

Well, yes, I'd agree for the story but the eagle feather is omitted from the movie.  I honestly can't think of a great solution to this for film-Jack.  Oh, wait... maybe it's sheep.  Maybe this goes back to the whole "sacrificial lamb" idea.
 

[Front-Ranger]

When Aguirre's trailer first appears, we hear the cry of an eagle, or at least a bird of prey. Later, we hear it again, echoing in the canyon. There is an eagle above the door of the Black and Blue Eagle Bar. After the reunion, Ennis lies spread-eagled. Other birds appear throughout the movie: the crow flying above the truck, the Thanksgiving turkey. In the story, when Ennis punches Jack, the "ministering angel" lies with wings folded. I'll look for other references, I'm sure there are some. But it wouldn't have worked for Jack to shoot an eagle and brag about it these days, so I surmise that's why it was omitted from the moive.

[Penthesilea]

Cool topic.  I think what you wrote in the initial post is a convincing interpretation Penthesilea.  So my question is ... if Ennis = mules and relationship = bear, then what is Jack's animal?  I think elk is also a symbol for their relationship... I think elk specifically functions as an aphrodisiac (I've posted about this in other thread), but I think elk could be expanded to be a symbol of their love.  I think the bear as a symbol of the entirety of their relationship (all the different aspects of making the relationship happen... not just the love) is very good.

The idea with the bear as symbol for their relationship is not mine, I read it somwhere (back on TOB, I believe).
As for Jack's animal: I just had this idea about Ennis and the mules, I saw the similarities triggered by what I mentioned in my OP, but didn't think of Jack in this case.

But thinking about it after your question, I agree with what Front-Ranger said: it has to be something with wings. Must not necessarily be an eagle, like she said. But birds in general or even an angel could do it for me.
This fits with the wind as symbol for Jack. Wind/air/sky/birds - on a symbolic level, it's all the same: a being not bound to the ground of the earth (like Ennis is). More free and less bound.

Like Jack is more free to set himself above the rules on the earth: shoot a sheep, f*ck Aguirre, leave his wife, love another man and live with him, leaving his home farm and living footloose on the rodeo circuit, and so on.

After his death this thought can be continued: angel/heaven. In my language, the word for sky and heaven is the same, we have only one word for both. So for me heaven=sky=up above.
And what do humans become after their death? They go up to heaven and become angels.