Jack is also Ennis??

[Artiste]

In some ways, Ennis and Jack understood... like brothers do??

[moremojo]

Yes, I like to think that Ennis and Jack were brothers in spirit. I don't have any brothers of my own, and always wanted a little brother when I was a child, and probably have had a tendency to idealize these kinds of relationships. But I like to think that all humanity is comprised of siblings in the eyes and heart of God.

I digress...but yes, I very much see Jack and Ennis as brothers of the heart; they were lovers, best friends, and blood-brothers (note the passage of Ennis's blood onto Jack's shirt), all rolled into one.

[Artiste]

Wow! Wow! moremojo: your answer is very touching to me and, likely to all!!

For many ways!!

Would you like to know??

Hugs!!

[moremojo]

Would you like to know?

Sure! Feel free to share as much as you wish.

Also, while on the theme of Ennis and Jack's brotherhood, notice how Ennis seems to warm to Mrs. Twist on his visit to Jack's boyhood home, and she to him. It is as if Ennis is remembering/recognizing his lost mother in his lover's. And Ennis's exploration of Jack's room is strongly haunted by a sense of Jack's vanished childhood. Ennis is discovering this aspect of his beloved for the very first time--further uniting them in a sense of shared experience and even, perhaps, nostalgia. Only, tragically, Jack is no longer there to share any of this with Ennis.

[Artiste]

Thanks moremojo!

Wow ! Wow!! You must be a film producer or a teacher?? !!

You could certainly write like Annie!! Even be a casting person. Select the actors for the next Brokeback Mountain film? As you have talent!!

Here is what you say:
Also, while on the theme of Ennis and Jack's brotherhood, notice how Ennis seems to warm to Mrs. Twist on his visit to Jack's boyhood home, and she to him. It is as if Ennis is remembering/recognizing his lost mother in his lover's. And Ennis's exploration of Jack's room is strongly haunted by a sense of Jack's vanished childhood. Ennis is discovering this aspect of his beloved for the very first time--further uniting them in a sense of shared experience and even, perhaps, nostalgia. Only, tragically, Jack is no longer there to share any of this with Ennis.
...

Yes, Mrs. Twist and Ennis understand each other and love, are helpful!! Do you know that Mr. Twist tries too?
In a way to help Ennis!! But he is still too sad about Jack's passing!! How would you have reacted seeing Ennis for the first time if you were Mr. Twist??
May I ask??

Did Ennis talk about his own mother in the book?? In the movie?? Can she be compared to Mrs.  Twist??

Why the Jack's childhood boots?? Is that like brotherhood?

And/or other ideas??

Awaiting your news,
hugs!!

[Artiste]

Thanks again moremojo!!

This is to talk partly about what you say here:
Yes, I like to think that Ennis and Jack were brothers in spirit. I don't have any brothers of my own, and always wanted a little brother when I was a child, and probably have had a tendency to idealize these kinds of relationships. But I like to think that all humanity is comprised of siblings in the eyes and heart of God.

I digress...but yes, I very much see Jack and Ennis as brothers of the heart; they were lovers, best friends, and blood-brothers (note the passage of Ennis's blood onto Jack's shirt), all rolled into one.
...

I am an older gay man, had much experiences with many other gay men, and may I note with quite a few (lucky I was) who had no brothers nor sisters!!  Those who were the unique boy in each family, were very good persons with me, each one was kind-hearted and helpful as gay men, and when I think about it, each brought me (even after sex elsewhere) to their own home/appartment as they were gentleman, which is an act utmostly rare among gays (or even straights)!! Many were orphans as children and so caring!! Some had lost all their parents during WWII, unfortunately!! Maybe this helps, a bit?? Were they like Ennis?? In a way... kind like him!! Were they like Jack?? Yes, they brought me home and Jack wanted to bring Ennis home to his parents and/or even make a home with him with their own ranch, possibly, if I recall properly?? That is brothers in spirit, right?? !! Loveable!!

When one is a gay man, one seeks another gay man as a brother??

May I ask?

Awaiting gladly you comments,

hugs!!

[Ellemeno]

Sure! Feel free to share as much as you wish.

Also, while on the theme of Ennis and Jack's brotherhood, notice how Ennis seems to warm to Mrs. Twist on his visit to Jack's boyhood home, and she to him. It is as if Ennis is remembering/recognizing his lost mother in his lover's.

Oh God, of course!  I never thought of that!  Ennis's first mother figure since his own mom died.  She was sonless, he was momless.

[Artiste]

Thanks Ellemeno!

Thanks for your comment on the human condition... interesting!!

May I respond to your comment(s)??

You say:
Oh God, of course!  I never thought of that!  Ennis's first mother figure since his own mom died.  She was sonless, he was momless!
...

I say: That Jack's mother would indeed find Ennis to be like a son in many ways, for surely Jack confided
to her that he loved Ennis, likely?? What do you think??

As Jack and Ennis... were too like blood brothers??

At least, in the movie, we feel that Ennis felt easily comfortable with JacK's mother!! Was that so in Annie's story??

Because you do not mention if Ennis felt something about Jack's father when he visited first time the Twist parents home (after Jack's death)... like what??  That Jack's father maybe also liked Ennis as if Ennis was like his son... as it can be noted that Jack's father knew about Ennis in many ways likely?? I would like your thoughts on this, and from others too, please!!

Jack's father is sonless (to use a similar word like yours) now that Jack has passed away, and Jack's father had sought like Jack's dream: that Ennis would come to be helping Jack on the Twists parents farm!! Right?? (It seems nobody wants to talk about this? We are hurt like Jack's father; we are hurt like Jack's mother!!) May I state: that Jack's father knew that Jack and Ennis were like blood brothers, right??


May I ask also this: If you look above, I ask: When  one is a gay man, one seeks another gay man as a blood brother in some ways?? - and therefore, not knowing if you are a woman or a man, straight or gay (or otherwise), etc., you think that a person seeks another (even as lovers) as broherhood and/or sisterhood ??

I have noticed in straight marriages (between a lady and a man), that when they look very much alike especially physically (and likely emotionally, etc., that they are very, very HAPPY!!

These questions are for you and for all to answer, as you please.

Hugs to you and all,

[moremojo]

Artiste, thank you for your gratifying comments on my writing. But I'm no producer or teacher; just a humble mail clerk in a university library.

I'm not sure how I would have reacted meeting Ennis if I had been John Twist. It's hard to put myself in Mr. Twist's shoes, as he (at least on first acquaintance) seems so unappealing a character. But I don't think he was trying to help Ennis at all--I think he was trying to hurt him. That was the main reason he invoked the story involving the fellow rancher down in Texas that Jack had spoken of the last spring; you can see how wounded Ennis is on hearing that by the expression on his face.

Ennis mentions his mother when speaking of her death (alongside her husband's) in the bar in Signal, during his first real conversation with Jack. I don't think she's explicitly mentioned afterwards in the film, but in the original story, we learn that the tune he hums to Jack in the dozy-embrace flashback was a soothing song that he learned from his mother, "back in the childhood time" (quotes are paraphrases from memory). It was a motif that he associated with motherly love, and his lulling Jack with it reinforces what a nurturing moment this really is.

As for the boots, in Jack's closet, I don't see that as specifically associated with his childhood, but merely some old boots that he might have worn as an adolescent or even as a grown man (in the story, we are told that Ennis thinks he might recall having seen them before). But notice the old (bronzed?) children's shoes that we see on the table next to the closet. These were almost certainly shoes that Jack had worn as a little boy, and they serve to highlight the aura of lost childhood that this sequence evokes. They don't necessarily reinforce a theme of brotherhood, but they do add poignancy to what Ennis is learning and absorbing here.

I'll write more in regard to your other questions and comments later. Stay tuned.

[Artiste]

thanks moremjo!

Glad that you are working in an university. I would employ you as a professor there!! You do try to help people!!

May I also say this. It concerns my former friend now deceased (I figure killed my his MD in the hospital because my friend was a christian and/or jewish, and a gay man!!).  You are a bit like my friend (his name was Wayne). I say that because you analyse like he did and he was kind-hearted too!! I mentioned to him more than once that he could have been a teacher and/or university professor!! But he was a labourer (mailed boxes in an manufacturer of chairs and desks); have nothing against that, just that I know he could have been a teacher if he would have thought and wanted to be one!! With me and other gay men, we all went often to soup kitchens and did eat with all there... so we could help somehow OTHERS. He did things, some I know of, to help others, like bring food to those places!! And he talked with most (therefore in a way an university professor, I say), and he saved likely many persons lives that way (and his own and mine then too)!! At times, lile the Jack's Twist father, he was stern with me too (we were stern with each other when times needed it, and great in brotherhood and as lovers/partners as that I still think it was!!)

Here is part of your comment:
I'm not sure how I would have reacted meeting Ennis if I had been John Twist. It's hard to put myself in Mr. Twist's shoes, as he (at least on first acquaintance) seems so unappealing a character. But I don't think he was trying to help Ennis at all--I think he was trying to hurt him. That was the main reason he invoked the story involving the fellow rancher down in Texas that Jack had spoken of the last spring; you can see how wounded Ennis is on hearing that by the expression on his face.
...

May I say:
I consider that Mr. John Twist had a right to tell Ennis off!! And Ennis needed that!! That is brotherhood to me!! Mr. Twist did love his son Jack!! Ennis discovered that love of the Jack's father for his son... at that first meeting at Mr. and Mrs. John Twist home after Jack was deceased!! And Ennis accepted the words from Mr. Twist, (at least in the movie, it seems to me)!! Much more can be said... here??

Mr. John Twist might seem unappealing, as you say at first!! Indeed!! We must not forget that he was in terrible pain!! And Ennis had NOT helped his son (Jack); that Mr. Twist says so!!

Be happy to know more your thoughts in this and brotherhood!!

Hugs!!