Author Topic: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17  (Read 84373 times)

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #50 on: January 02, 2007, 11:27:52 am »
Very interesting observations, Phillip and Toast. Unfortunately I cannot see the photos as Photobucket is blocked on my work computer. I will look forward to analyzing them when I get home tonite.

You might find the book "Postcards" by Annie Proulx interesting because each chapter begins with an illustration of a postcard sent by or to one of the characters in the book.

As far as Yosemite goes, I'm looking forward to finding the Yosemite reference so I can lay it to rest, and then I don't want the word Yosemite mentioned to me again for a good long time!! This from a person who once curated an exhibition of archived Yosemite photography for the park's 100th anniversary!!
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Offline Toast

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #51 on: January 02, 2007, 12:53:00 pm »

What I find interesting is that Ennis has a stub of an envelope with Texas written on it (presumably his note for the complete address) and then he writes Texas on the reply card to Jack. 

The Texas on the card and on the envelope stub seem to be written by two completely different people.

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #52 on: January 02, 2007, 01:09:08 pm »
What I find interesting is that Ennis has a stub of an envelope with Texas written on it (presumably his note for the complete address) and then he writes Texas on the reply card to Jack. 

The Texas on the card and on the envelope stub seem to be written by two completely different people.

But the 'You bet' is the same writing.
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #53 on: January 02, 2007, 07:50:18 pm »
These were my thoughts on the subject that I wrote on 'Photo Captions'.

Ennis thinking: Puttin' these here numbers on my mail box. 17 don't mean nuttin', just that Ah live in space number 17 in this here trailer park. Some folks get upset thinking everything has to mean somethin'.

LOL! Mark, tell Ennis just to pay us no mind, we are just looking for a way to take our minds off our troubles!!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #54 on: January 03, 2007, 02:29:11 pm »
I have a question (that leads to several more) that I feel is almost worth it's own thread...  The main question is who stamped that postcard "DECEASED"?  Was it the post office?  Could it possibly have been Lureen?  If Lureen was still living at the same address wouldn't that postcard have been delivered to her like normal?  Had Jack really been dead long enough for the post office to stop delivering his mail like normal (especially since his wife would be their to receive it anyway)?  Clearly, there must be a return address on that postcard... since somehow the postcard made its way back to Ennis.  If the postcard had arrived at the Twist house, then Lureen would definitely know both Ennis's name and address.  Making her story on the phone sound a bit more fishy.

This question actually came up in a fanfic story I was reading (some of you how read fic might recognize this issue), but I thought it was compelling enough to warrant serious discussion with regard to the actual movie.

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Amanda


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Offline Ellemeno

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #55 on: January 03, 2007, 03:37:18 pm »

As far as Yosemite goes, I'm looking forward to finding the Yosemite reference so I can lay it to rest

I just searched my pdf file of the short story for you, and the word "Yosemite" doesn't appear.


Offline Lynne

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #56 on: January 03, 2007, 03:59:07 pm »
I have a question (that leads to several more) that I feel is almost worth it's own thread...  The main question is who stamped that postcard "DECEASED"?  Was it the post office?  Could it possibly have been Lureen?  If Lureen was still living at the same address wouldn't that postcard have been delivered to her like normal?  Had Jack really been dead long enough for the post office to stop delivering his mail like normal (especially since his wife would be their to receive it anyway)?  Clearly, there must be a return address on that postcard... since somehow the postcard made its way back to Ennis.  If the postcard had arrived at the Twist house, then Lureen would definitely know both Ennis's name and address.  Making her story on the phone sound a bit more fishy.

This question actually came up in a fanfic story I was reading (some of you how read fic might recognize this issue), but I thought it was compelling enough to warrant serious discussion with regard to the actual movie.

cheers
Amanda




I have just come from the post office in Huntsville, AL where I asked the guy behind the counter about this.  He says that the family can keep receiving the deceased's mail if they're at the same address, or forward it to another family member (like executor or power-of-attorney), or they can request that it be returned with the 'DECEASED' stamp.  He did not know the policy in 1983, but I wouldn't think it would change much.

This leads me to speculate that Lureen had to go out of her way to take a death certificate to the PO and fill out a form, etc. so that postcard would get back to Ennis in the coldest way possible.  Maybe it's a measure of the distance between Lureen and Jack near the end of his life - they could do it over the phone, all business.  One more detail for her to check off of her list.

Who else would Jack have received mail from besides his mother and Ennis?  I'm guessing the household bills and all were in her name seeing as she had the adding machine.

Poor Jack.

 :'(
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Offline SFEnnisSF

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #57 on: January 03, 2007, 04:27:28 pm »

  • This was posted on that thread by meryl: “[in Chinese symbology] the number 8 represents Rebirth. There are other symbols of new life in that scene as well: Alma, Jr.’s impending marriage, Ennis’s newly awakened sense of the importance of making sacrifices for loved ones, and the view of the young green crops seen from the window in the last shot.”

I think I have to go with this one, about the # 17 I mean.

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #58 on: January 03, 2007, 10:54:58 pm »
Hi Lynne,

Thanks for doing the research.   I still think it's an interesting and somewhat mysterious issue.


Hey, so now I have yet another question.  What's the significance of different advertisements on the paper behind the deceased postcard?  I wonder if this newspaper/ circular is almost a "bookend" to the newspaper that Alma uses to cover up one of Jack's earlier camping-trip-invitation postcards.
 :o  The one Alma uses to hide Jack's postcard is the classic that's advertising milk and honey.
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Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #59 on: January 05, 2007, 11:30:41 am »
I am guessing in this instance it's a dramatic tool to coldly inform Ennis of Jack's passing by the filmmaker, with the presumption this would be a normal procedure (it's been used in other movies and TV shows).  Most mail carriers still deliver mail for those no longer with us, or if they lived alone, it gets returned as undeliverable.  We are unfortunately still dealing with this in our own family as my father is closing charge accounts opened in my mom's name (they all want a copy of the death certificate -and- mail a confirmation letter in her name at her address because a third party is closing the account).  And he still gets junk mail in her name as well.

I don't sense Lureen would be -that- cold as to wash Jack right out of her scary hair, but since a lot of us think of her as one of the things which keeps Jack and Ennis apart, it's probably easy for us to assign negative intent to her.  I've noticed Alma gets far more sympathy than Lureen does in a lot of discussions about the women.  I wonder if that is part of the stereotyping of strong, take charge women as cold, while Alma clearly looks more like a victim.

One wonders how Ennis would share the news of Jack's passing with Alma.....
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