Book Discussion: Brokeback Mountain

[Fran]

Speaking of grey:

"On the third morning there were the clouds Ennis had expected, a grey racer out of the west, a bar of darkness driving wind before it and small flakes." 

(This is just before the "putting the blocks to" conversation.)

[Front-Ranger]

It's wonderful to discuss the story with people who know it so intimately!!

[Front-Ranger]

Extending the greyness a little more--Aguirre's hair was the color of ash. This makes me wonder, is Aguirre related to Ennis at all? Is he what Ennis would become in his later years?

[Front-Ranger]

I got caught up in two detours: a discussion of the colors blue and grey, and then an Oscar Nite viewing of the movie in Bay City, Michigan!!

Let's see, where were we. Oh yes, on the fourth sentence of the story, still in the prologue. Actually, what torqued me back to thinking about this story was RodneyFL's eloquent reading of it on Brokeback Mountain Radio last THursday. I was struck by how often the word trailer appears in the prologue. There are two: the trailer that Ennis lives in (altho he's about to leave it) and the horse trailer with which he's going to transport his horses to a new home, or more likely to his married daughter's home. Then, there's the ever present wind. The wind, as Jack's memory, is always with Ennis. There are metallic things, not only the trailers, but the keys that drop into Ennis's hand, with a jingle jangle morning sound (nod to Bob Dylan).

McMurtry/Ossana picked up on the significance of the trailer, and added a trailer shot at the end of the movie. Since there was no prologue in the movie, they added an epilogue instead.

[Ellemeno]

There are metallic things, not only the trailers, but the keys that drop into Ennis's hand, with a jingle jangle morning sound (nod to Bob Dylan).

If only Ennis had chosen the rest of the song's phrase:

"In the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you."

[Front-Ranger]

Yes that's sad...but at least thousands of viewers did!!

[Front-Ranger]

More about the prologue:

Did you know that you can HEAR the prologue being read by Rodney Giles, master Brokeback storyteller!!? Go right here:

http://brokeback2007.com/events/reading.html

Rodney is reading the ENTIRE story in May at the Brokeback BBQ 2007!!

Also, the ABCz Playerz are in the process of devoting a round or two in the ABC Game to the prologue!!

[Front-Ranger]

The prologue of the story is very interesting for many reasons. It is like a story within a story. It tells us in a microcosm what we are about to see expanded. It prepares us to read the rest of the story attuned to the clues we will find. One of the interesting things about the story is that it is italicized. Why? Well, it may be as simple as a desire to set off the words in the prologue from the rest of the story. But, it may not be as simple as that. You can never tell with Annie Proulx. She is a sly one.

Just for the sake of curiousity, let's go on and look at some of the phrases in the story that are italicized.

But, before we do, I would also like to point out that these phrases are ALL CAPS in the Story to Screenplay book. So, in this next part, I'm going to be talking about The New Yorker version of the story, because all caps hurt my eyes. 

Join in everybody!!

[Front-Ranger]

When Aguirre starts to talk in the story, the italicized words start to appear. (BTW, it's interesting that two Jehovah-type figures appear in the story, one at the beginning--Aguirre--and one at the end--John C. Twist, Jack's dad, intoning their pronouncements)

He says: “Tomorrow morning we’ll truck you up the jump-off.” Pair a deuces goin nowhere.

The first two words, tomorrow morning, are italicized. Why? I don't know, but I immediately thought of the other place where the word tomorrow appears. It is the last word that Jack ever hears from Ennis.

[Front-Ranger]

Here's another thing Aguirre says in his instructions, with italicized words:

“…but the herder”—pointing at Jack with a chop of his hand—“pitch a pup tent on the Q.T. with the sheep, out a sight, and he’s goin a sleep there.”

With it being Easter just recently, I had a different reaction to this pronouncement than I usually do. For one thing, I find it heartbreaking because as we will see later, Jack did end up "sleeping" (dying) and with the sheep, which I fondly think of as us, the readers of the story and his brothers in spirit.

'Nother thing. That Aguirre is such an Assertive guy--not only does he get the lion's share of the italicized words, but he actually chops with his hand. I wince whenever a chop is directed at Jack and, in the movie, Jack is sitting by the campfire with the ax handle appearing right out of his head!! Ouch! With this kind of writing, it's a wonder that we are surprised by the ending of the story but we are. I still remember the shock, the first time I read it back almost ten years ago...