Author Topic: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17  (Read 84366 times)

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #20 on: August 14, 2006, 03:27:10 pm »
Mark, you just made a comment on the "fantasy scenes" thread that got me wondering. You said you think Ennis would have kept all of Jack's post cards (and that he should have tacked the very first one up in his closet, message-side out). I would like to think he did keep them, but I don't know ... I'm guessing he would find that too risky.

What does everyone else think?

 ???

he may have found a safe hiding spot, glove compartment to his truck, small box with his tools, maybe his saddle had a pocket, hidden conpartment in tackle box, somewhere in the truck most likely.
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline Mikaela

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #21 on: August 14, 2006, 05:18:14 pm »
Much as i would have like him to, I don't think Ennis kept the postcards. Possibly, just possibly he kept the first one, but not the others. He was too careful, too "paranoid" - worried over the worst-case scenario of someone finding the cards and immediately "knowing" the meaning of him keeping them. I don't think he kept those cards any more than I believe he kept a photo of Jack.   :-\

Though if he *did* keep them, there sure would be a satsifying and poetic sort of wry irony to him keeping them hidden in his fishing tackle box. it's not like that got used too much for other purposes, and it was after all intimately connected to his relationship with Jack.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #22 on: August 14, 2006, 11:14:14 pm »
he probably never developed a sentimental side. Until the end.

 :'( !

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #23 on: August 14, 2006, 11:32:01 pm »
No, he would not keep them there. “One night I got your creel case open...”

I don’t think he would have been able to find a safe place for them for the seven or so years he and Alma were together after the reunion. And I don’t know whether Ennis even would have kept them--Jack was the sentimental one, keeping the shirts, his toy horse-and-rider, the blue truck under the desk. Even though his mom “kept his room,” Jack could still have thrown those things out. Ennis didn’t grow up in just one place (as Jack apparently did), didn’t have even a place to keep anything important, so he probably never developed a sentimental side. Until the end.
I think Ennis was sentimental, remember how he held the first card he got from jack reading it over and over? If I were Ennis the one safe place I would hide them would be inside the seat of his trucks. In those day the seats were made from zig zag metal springs wraped in burlap just below the upper surface of the seat, leaving it mor or less hollow, unloke today where the seats are mostly foam. He could have rigged up a place were they were well held in on the seat bottom and if Alma or anyone used teh truck no one would ever know. These were the only things he ever had of Jack and I think he would have kept them.
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #24 on: August 14, 2006, 11:56:57 pm »
The better he hid them, the more suspicion they'd arouse if anybody found them. If he put them inside the truck seat, he'd worry about getting in an accident and having them discovered by the rescuers or something.

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #25 on: August 15, 2006, 12:03:56 am »
The better he hid them, the more suspicion they'd arouse if anybody found them. If he put them inside the truck seat, he'd worry about getting in an accident and having them discovered by the rescuers or something.

I don't think anyone would look for them there, and if his truck was wrecked he would have a chance to retreve his things from it. Also I think he would have like the idea that they were with him wherever he went. I don 't think a place like this would cause him worry. Alma probably rarely if ever drove the truck on her own and no one else had access to it.

Having said that, I dont think it was a big issue keeping them from Alma. They were innocuous enough, were picture poscards and Ennis could have kept them anywhere in the open, desk, dresser, etc.. He had no reason to suspect Alma knew Jack was anything but a fishing buddy.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2006, 04:22:56 pm by jpwagoneer1964 »
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #26 on: August 15, 2006, 11:16:20 pm »
Well, Ennis certainly knew that Alma knew about the postcards since she was the one to announce the arrival of the first one.  And, both Ennis and Jack were aware that Alma (and others) would be reading the postcards.  I think the only thing that would be "suspicious" would be a stock pile.  In the story Ennis goes out and buys a new postcard with Brokeback on it to use in his shrine.  He even makes the shopkeeper order one since it's not in stock.  I like that detail because it's so deliberate.  He is conscious that he's constructing a little shrine.  It's almost as nice of an idea as the notion of keeping all the old ones for sentimental value.
 :'(
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Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #27 on: August 16, 2006, 02:11:54 am »
Well, Ennis certainly knew that Alma knew about the postcards since she was the one to announce the arrival of the first one.  And, both Ennis and Jack were aware that Alma (and others) would be reading the postcards.  I think the only thing that would be "suspicious" would be a stock pile.  In the story Ennis goes out and buys a new postcard with Brokeback on it to use in his shrine.  He even makes the shopkeeper order one since it's not in stock.  I like that detail because it's so deliberate.  He is conscious that he's constructing a little shrine.  It's almost as nice of an idea as the notion of keeping all the old ones for sentimental value.
 :'(
Before the shirts I think that stack of post postcards was Ennios's most prized possesion.
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline nakymaton

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #28 on: August 16, 2006, 10:14:06 am »
I just had another postcard-related thought.

It just struck me how horribly, tragically impersonal it is to find out about a loved one's death by getting a postcard returned with the word "deceased" stamped across it. Not even handwriting to convey the message... a rubber stamp, used because it can send the same message over and over again...

 :'( :'( :'(
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #29 on: August 16, 2006, 10:24:01 am »
I just had another postcard-related thought.

It just struck me how horribly, tragically impersonal it is to find out about a loved one's death by getting a postcard returned with the word "deceased" stamped across it. Not even handwriting to convey the message... a rubber stamp, used because it can send the same message over and over again...

Yes, that would be terrible. I saw the movie with a friend who is a letter carrier. She insists the P.O. wouldn't do that -- just stamp it "deceased" and send it back. But I mentioned that in a post a long time ago and someone industriously looked it up somehow and found that it was common practice up until some certain time, which I believe was after 1983.

In any case, I think they would have just delivered the postcard to Lureen. So this is a bit of cinematic license. It's lucky for Ennis, though, because then he would never have found out. (Unless Lureen saw the Riverton postmark and took the initiative to track Ennis down, but that seems unlikely.)

Would he have shown up in November and waited in vain for Jack? Would he assume Jack had quit him? Would he call the house in Childress to find out what happened?