I guess right from the get-go, with my first reading of the story back in 1997, I've always understood Ennis as somebody who is content without a whole lot of stuff. He steps around in worn boots, worn jeans, and a worn shirt year in and year out, and while maybe he can't afford lots of new things, I have somehow got the impression that maybe being poor and broke doesn't really bother him much on a daily basis--he doesn't really think about it very often--just accepts it--until Jack seems not to understand why he can't get away in August.
I'm tempted to add a caveat to that last statement, that on the basis of his response to Jack, maybe he is beginning to mind it more as he gets older, but then, in the prologue, we don't get any real sign of discontent with his situation, just a matter-of-fact acceptance of the situation. So maybe his response to Jack was an anomaly.
Anyway. the story has always left me with an understanding that Ennis really enjoys ranch work. He just tolerated his job on the highway crew but also worked weekends at the Rafter B in exchange for boarding his horses there. Apparently he is good with horses and was a good judge of horse flesh ("The string of spare horses included a mouse-colored grullo whose looks Ennis liked." Contrast Jack, who, for his primary mount, picked a horse with a low startle point.). I think if Ennis is left alone to work with cattle and horses, he's basically content with his life. Alma is the one who resents his preference for ranch work.
And, earlier this evening, reflecting on Alma's resentment at Ennis's preference for ranch work instead of something that was steady and paid better, I suddenly had the thought: What did Alma Beers think she was getting when she married Ennis del Mar?
I'm not talking sexuality here, I'm talking economics. If Alma was ambitious to improve her economic position, couldn't she see before she married Ennis that he was happy with ranch work? What was she thinking?
And that thought led me to another rumination: Folks have speculated that Ennis's brother and sister may have pushed him into marriage. While I've never felt that way, that's fine, but the thought has now occurred to me: What if
Alma pursued
Ennis until Ennis caught
her?
What if she kept after him until Ennis, aware that she was marriage minded, took the path of least resistance and asked her to marry him?
Just speculating, but we really don't know anything about the details of their courtship, only that they were already engaged when he took the summer job on Brokeback Mountain.