I was about to post this in the "parents and children thread", when this topic appeared and so I'm rather posting it here, as it touches directly upon why Jack would behave towards Bobby the way he does.
Jack seems to care for Bobby, but at the same time he seems entirely willing to leave him behind if Ennis should decide to say yes to the sweet life…. The following thoughts specifically about the movie versions of Jack and Bobby are all just in my opinion and based on my impressions and speculations, of course. I do believe Jack is Bobby’s father, movie timelines be damned. I think there are other reasons, reasons more poignantly tied directly to Jack’s relationship with and love for Ennis, that might explain Jack’s behaviour towards his son and the Newsomes. They’re outlined below.
Sure enough, though - I believe Jack and Lureen “had to get married”, as the saying goes. Several things point to Lureen being pregnant when they married. (The script timeline, which only includes years, not months, - and the photo Lureen keeps at the bedside table which isn’t a “big wedding” photo…) And a pregnancy may have been one and perhaps the only reason why the Newsomes decided to put a good face on it and to accept Jack as their son-in-law.
Jack was of course entirely aware that he’d attached himself to the Newsome clan under false pretences. But Lureen and the marriage provided him with many things he desperately needed at that time; a vastly improved financial position, a steady life far from Lightning Flat, a big boost to his self-esteem (snagging the rich and pretty rodeo queen), someone to ease his desperate loneliness and longing for Ennis, a front to hide behind when too many people on the rodeo circuit may have been catching the same vibes – and behaving the same way – as Jimbo.
Bobby in a way becomes not only Jack’s entry ticket to the clan and a new life, but also his contribution in return, a “repayment” for what he may feel that he owes Lureen and her parents. Whether rationally thought out or just subconscious on Jack's part doesn't matter all that much IMO. So there he is, that’s one reason he’s stepping aside with that polite and sad smile, - while pining for someone and somewhere else - letting LD proprietarily declare Bobby a Newsome: The “spitting’ image of his grandpa”.
After the reunion, when Bobby was not yet a year old, and up until Jack’s post-divorce meeting with Ennis, Jack clearly seems to have considered his own place in the Newsome clan a temporary matter. Not so for his son, though. Jack was waiting for Ennis to finally come around so that they could stay together, and he must have thought that when it happened, he wouldn’t be able to take Bobby with him. Bobby would remain with Lureen and her parents.
On that particular background, there were several reasons why Jack’d hold back from bonding too much with the boy and deliberately let the boy continue to grow up as his granddad’s “spittin’ image”, ie. being doted upon and very much influenced by LD, at Jack’s own expense even. It would ensure that Bobby felt the loss of his father less keenly when Jack left. Bobby’d have people around him who he loved just as much or more, right there to comfort him….. (probably through reviling Jack). And it would secure Bobby the continued support and financial backing of the Newsomes, no matter what Jack did. They wouldn’t consider Bobby just an extension of Jack and make the child suffer when the father paid them the insult of leaving, and for another *man*, no less. (LD sure seems like the person to otherwise take his anger and displeasure out on an innocent child, just like the two other fathers of his generation that we get to meet – Ennis’s and Jack’s.)
So in a way, Jack’s love for Ennis loses him the relationship and bond he *could* have had with his son, – in contrast to Ennis who didn’t ever hold back from his girls. Ennis can’t even imagine leaving his daughters, but I think Jack firmly believes and accepts he’ll have to leave his son – and acts accordingly: He keeps a certain distance to the boy, making the loss of him easier to bear for Jack – when that day comes, as Jack believes it will. And after the reunion Jack never talks about Bobby to Ennis, that we get to see – Jack seemingly doesn’t want to give his son any place or presence in his relationship with Ennis, - maybe that would be too painful?
Even so, while he’s waiting for Ennis, Jack obviously does care very much for his son and does his best to develop him as a human being, probably also intentionally to counterbalance some of LD’s influence. He instills a feeling of self-worth and accomplishment in the boy (the tractor scene), and nags the teacher to ensure the boy gets relevant additional tuition. In this he appears a far better parent than Lureen, who in contrast complains about the boy always losing stuff (making the boy feel less self-confident, as she probably talks that way to Bobby himself) and who seemingly can’t be bothered to care much about the learning disability situation.
Then comes the post-divorce scene, the turning point for Jack’s hopes and dreams concerning Ennis. “The sweet life” is shown up as a bittersweet and painfully unrealizable dream. Jack has stepped back and let LD have first dibs on his son and the boy’s development, has kept his son at an emotional distance, pretty much all for nothing.
So right thereafter, we get Jack forcefully reclaiming the say-so over his son. Both the boy and LD recognize that. Jack also regains Bobby’s respect, after LD has gone out of his way to destroy it. As Jack starts carving the turkey, Bobby sits up straight like he’s suddenly on parade. He’s paying attention to daddy. Until then, Bobby sure seems to have been influenced a lot by LD, the way the boy talks to his mother. He comes across as a pretty unlikable boy, to me.
Yes, I know there are many reasons why Jack finally blows up over the Thanksgiving turkey. He has had enough. His hopes for a sweet life with Ennis, that sustained him over the years, have now been squashed. LD has kept on and on insulting and belittling him, and does so this time in front of the whole family *including* Bobby. But though there is much going on there below the surface, still that final dispute importantly *is* about Bobby - literally about *who* has the final say in what Bobby should be allowed to do, what is required for him to grow up “right”, and who gets to define that “right”. Surely the wish to be the one deciding those things where his own son is invovlved must be seen as a strong motivating factor when Jack finally decides to take on LD.
