...Jack, maybe because he was, like Annie Proulx put it (paraphrasing a bit), "quicksilver, beautiful, hungry, bitterly disappointed over and over, and still able to give so much love and electricity".
I am very much like Jack who is kind, out-going, tender but also tough enough for the hardness of life, hearty, tenacious and caring. He also dwells in possibility, has a vision of the good life even if he never realizes it entirely. He keeps trying, he keeps loving, he keeps hoping, he has faith. That is how I am, accessible and mostly open to good people and good experiences in life. The odd, even interesting thing is that I find myself in an "Ennis Del Mar Like Land" of my own making.
What I mean by that is that Ennis is remote, removed, often emotionally rocky. One of the best image of Ennis' internal life early on is after his first night with Jack when he rides off in the morning. He rides along a rocky ridge, high up, windy, seemingly near the sky, just Ennis on his horse. This is, at least in the first part of the movie, truly Ennis. I understand Ennis, but am not Ennis. I empathize with Ennis, but cannot live as he lives, but have myself in a remote country, living a very solitary life without much contact, until recently, with anyone I can actually be myself with, and no partner at all. I am Jack lost in an Ennis Del Mar Like Land and trying to make my way out because, like Jack, I believe there is a way. I must say though, that while I identify strongly with Jack, I have a bit of Ennis in me too, his anger, his stubbornness, his pain from past trauma and loss. I am these too.
In a symbolic way, I see Ennis as hard, stark reality and Jack as gentle visions and ideals. They understand each other, but are opposites, they complete each other too. Each needs the other to make life bearable, and while they may seem in conflict at times, they are more like the Yin and Yang of The Tao. For me, when they are together they symbolically balance each other and form "the big picture".
Peace,
Rayn
