I am presently in dire pain since I moved furniture
Oh, Artiste, I am so sorry to hear that!
You stay off your feet and rest today, please!!
So, it was Ennis who trained Jack? In many ways. Was that because, Ennis had right away realized that Jack had an immediate crush on him, at that trailer to get themselves a job from Aguirre??
No, that would have been manipulative, and I don't think Ennis had that in his nature. Their friendship was like a dance in which fearless Jack made the first step while fearful Ennis pushed back or retreated. But there was another force within Ennis and that was the power of love, the need to connect. Even tho he tried to control and repress it, at times it asserted itself and what a blessing that was for them, and for us!
But, where (from whom) does Ennis get this way to method how to control a man?
Part of it was animal instinct, but he also learned from his father and his brother. One time Jack reflected that "I never figured you to throw a dirty punch" on that last day on the mountain, and Ennis tried to explain it by recalling how his father advised him to beat his brother up at odd times when K. E. was not expecting it. "The lesson was, Don't say nothin and get it over with quick" Ennis said. And then tumbled out the story of Earl and Rich. From his father, Ennis learned how to control others' behavior through force. He didn't do this in a conscious way, and thus when it was time to let his guard down, to let himself loose, he didn't know how to do it. He was either unresponsive and impassive, or he was wildly out of control.