Goarda, thank you for bringing up this line. Every time I read the story, I stumble over this sentence, even in two ways: one is the characterization of Ennis as a full-throttle-type and two, I have a comprehensive question. Here's the whole sentence:
Ennis ran full throttle on all roads whether fence mending or money spending, and he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock.Ennis wanted none of it: does this refer to the two afore mentioned activities or to what Jack did? When I look at the sentence's stucture, I think both is possible. But I may be totally wrong, since English is a foreign language to me.
First possible interpretation:
At this point, at this exact time, Ennis wanted neither mending fences nor spending money = a funny way to describe that he had completely other things (=sex) on his mind at this point.
Like in this sentence:
James loved his job, travelling and sky diving, and he wanted none of it when Julia opened her blouse. = when Julia opened her blouse, James forgot everything but the thought of having sex with Julia now = James thought only with his d*ck at this exact moment; he had only one aim.
Second possible interpretaion.
Ennis didn't want his hand on Jack's erect cock at all.
Am I totally wrong about the first possible interpretation?
On Ennis' characterization as a full throttle type:
Mel already said it, at least movie Ennis was sure not the full throttle type, in contrast, he was very cautious.
But on the other side: Ennis was sure the type who would commit himself totally to what he had decided to do. This goes along with his stubbornness and with him being more of a rule-follower than Jack. Ennis had decided to do the job of protecting the sheep, and he refused to shoot one. He had decided to marry Alma, and he did. I think when Ennis worked, he worked hard. And when he met the foul mouthed bikers, he sure went full throttle with them. First he was trying to calm the situation down, but when he decided to take action, it sure was full throttle.
And in his own way, he committed himself to Jack as much as it was possible for him: he quit jobs for Jack, he argued with his boss about getting free time, he never looked for any other men, and so on.
If Ennis had decided to live with Jack, he would have committed himself totally to him. He sure wouldn't have backed out at the first sign of problems. This is one of the reasons why I'm convinced that it would have worked, had they tried to live together (ups, *that* discussion is on another thread
).