It’s not until Jack talks about wishing he knew how to quit him that Ennis breaks down—that’s the shot to the heart. Not Mexico, not doin’ it with other guys. All the other factors (“admissions, declarations, shames, guilts, fears”) are part of “It’s because of you, Jack, that I’m like this,” but the trigger is that now, suddenly, one of Ennis’s bedrocks is crumbling.
Barbara, that has always been my view, exactly. In fact, I don't even see it so much as
one of Ennis' bedrocks as, well, Ennis' bedrock. I think this goes back to one of the big debates among Brokies (not quite as big as sorry/s'alright, but almost ...!). Did Ennis get upset in the lakeside argument mainly because he's afraid he's losing Jack, or mainly because of Jack's revelation about Mexico? And to the extent that it's the latter, is is more about being jealous that he's been unfaithful, or more about the implication that then Jack is gay and so, by extension, Ennis must be too?
I'm convinced it's much more about his fear of losing Jack. Again, I feel on much more comfortable ground discussing the movie, but at least I'm pretty sure it's true there.
The "admissions, declarations, shames, guilts, fears” is an interesting phrase. What are some of those As, Ds, Ss, Gs and Fs? I'd say that at least some of them -- S, G, F, maybe A -- have to do with being gay. And D (and maybe also A and F) has to do with love. But do you all think they're any more specific than that?