Hey, Katherine, I'm not sure I see why that line doesn't make sense to you. Cassie has just told Ennis that she's left all these messages for him--which he's plainly ignored--and now he sees her with another guy. That's the message--she's dating someone else. It does seem to be an example of Ennis blaming someone else for his own actions, or inactions, as the case may be.
I'm beginning to realize I've never really paid enough attention to this scene--in particular, the implication that Ennis has been ignoring Cassie after his confrontation with Jack. Next time I make/find the time to watch the DVD, I really need to study Heath's face before Cassie runs out and Carl follows her. The stage directions in the screenplay read as follows:
[Cassie] Starts crying as she rushes off to CARL, who waits by the door. CARL looks back at ENNIS; ENNIS shoots CARL a murderous look.
Hunh? Does he? And why? It's just been made abundantly clear that he doesn't want Cassie, so why should he resent Carl?
Anyway, I think the most spectacular example of Ennis blaming someone else for his own shortcomings is in the confrontation with Jack:
"It's because of you, Jack, that I'm like this. I'm nothin'. I'm nowhere."
Well, excuse me, but Ennis has made life choices. He has chosen to stick to low-paying work that he can quit at short notice to go off with Jack, but it's terribly unfair to blame that on Jack.
Jeff, in answer to your first question, the line seems to stop one step short of logical -- he got the message, she took the action. What he
should say is "Looks like I got the message and that, in return, you got my message (which was implied by my lack of reponse) (and so are now dating Carl)." But that would be kind of an awkward line, I guess.
I've recently come to realize that the Cassie scene is big. NOT because Ennis shoots Carl a murderous glance. He doesn't. What he does do, right after she says "Girls don't fall in love with fun," is suddenly look up, stop chewing pie and stare into space for several long moments, as though deep in thought. During that time Cassie flees, which he pays little attention to. He's indifferent to Carl; he only said that because, as you said, he was lashing out angrily to deflect blame, as he is prone to do. My interpretation that upon hearing the word "love" he realizes something.
Speaking of which, you're right that the lake scene line is a classic example. He undoubtedly knows he is more to blame for the unsatisfactory situation. But Ennis' lines are much better this way than if he admitted his guilt. Especially following "Why don't you then? Why don't you just let me be?" the implication is that even though Ennis knows they're both miserable and that it's his fault, he is helpless to take any action himself, either to live with Jack (which he's made clear he won't do) OR to break things off, which he can't do because he loves Jack. Though, I now suspect, he may not have thought of it as love before hearing Cassie use the word. So you may have been right about that.
Jeff, just as you encouraged me to buy StS, I would encourage you to take 134 minutes and watch the DVD. I hadn't watched it myself since it was in theaters, so about two months, until last week, when I rented it and watched it twice. I knew all the lines, but found I had remembered a lot of the visual stuff -- especially facial expressions -- differently. Also, I felt more observant, more aware of details and subtexts, after all this time discussing.