Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

what's the point of the job switch?

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serious crayons:
Here's one I've always wondered about but never thought to ask. What's the point of having Ennis start out minding the campsite while Jack minds the sheep, and then having them switch? I mean, I know what the characters' motivations are -- Jack hates the commute and the cat-piss tent; Ennis doesn't mind those things and wants to do something nice for Jack.

And in dramatic terms, there's an opportunity after they've switched to highlight the contrast between Jack and Alma -- they both cook and wash Ennis' shirts by hand, but Jack does it outdoors in nature and Alma does it indoors in artificial, civilized settings. But that point could as easily have been made if they had started out in those jobs, right?

So is there some other reason, in a storytelling/dramatic/symbolic sense, for having them go through all that? Is it just something to fill up the time during that first month, something for Jack to complain and rebel against and Ennis to accept stoically, ala the beans? Or does changing their sleeping locations set the stage for their ultimate change in sleeping arrangements?

Or what?

Ellemeno:
No answer from me - 'cept I'm glad you and your good questions are here, Katherine!

RouxB:
Hmmm, those all sound like pretty good reasons to me...love story development.

 O0

Kea:
Hi

I think that is a great question....here is what I think

I thought it set the stage for the relationship to come......the time of Jack waiting in the dark up with the sheep , smoking and looking out for the spark in the dark that was Ennis..

very symbolic for me....the waiting ...the searching ..the longing....the hope.....the darkeness  the uncertainty.

Remember Jacks words..." we should both be in this camp ".......

but in a way they never could be in the same "camp" their lives , Ennis fears and their roles kept them in separate "camps"....

Jack spent the rest of his life waiting.....it started up on that mountain.....it showed the contrast in what he had with what he wanted...

I think it was necessary for them to go through that stage ...a awakening to need of sorts...

Jack prehaps awakened to his need to be with Ennis....

Ennis his need to do something for Jack...

I feel its almost a way to show how the two worlds could not come together without consequences...first time they spend the night together...a sheep gets killed...another time the sheep get mixed up....

a hint that their  relationship would have  a price to pay....always a price....

and even after the switch.....there were issues......a probable suggestion ...that it was not the role ..or the time or the place that mattered ...but their own internal struggles or beliefs that could potentially harm their love..

the fact that Ennis would settle for a  "cat piss smelling tent " .....so suggestive of Ennis being willing to settle  for less...while Jack always wanting to have it better ..sweeter........intresting to think about.

so the job switch for me...really speak volumes..


does this make sense to anyone else?

Kea

Penthesilea:
Maybe it's just a logical descision. Aguirre knew Jack from the summer before, but he didn't know Ennis.
Aguirre may have been angry at Jack for the high loss of sheep the first summer, but he wasn't too mad about it to hire Jack again. So Jack must have done the job well enough for Aguirre to hire him again.
All Aguirre cares for are the sheep (=his money). And from his POV the sheep herder job is more important than the camp tender job. It's consequential to let the man he already knows (and knows he can rely on) do the more important job.
It would have been illogical if Annie had Aguirre decide the other way round.

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