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How Did Jack Die?
JT:
--- Quote from: DavidinHartford on December 03, 2006, 11:52:28 pm ---Rayn you are 100% right. Jack was not depressed to the point of suicide. Unhappy with the fact he couldn't have Ennis 100% of the time, thats a given.
"He drank alot" Yeah. I can see that. He was trapped in his "good life" in Texas. In good life I mean financially. Plus he had a son too. I almost feel that if he hadn't had gotten married to Lureen, that he'd have eventually moved back to Wyoming to be closer to Ennis.
No doubt that Jack was "happy enough" with Randall. They had been getting together since 1978 right? Thats 5 years together. No wonder Jack mentioned him to his father.
As for that tire? Not an accident. Don't forget, Jack had money to buy new trucks all the time. New trucks mean new tires. New tires don't blow off the rim.
My guess is that Jack did indeed drink alot because he was unhappy that he was finally going to leave Ennis. Jack was also known to be horny enough to look for sex in the wrong places at times. Could Jacks secret have gotten out? If Jack had a few too many drinks and made a pass at the wrong person, a violent homophobic redneck, then sure, that could have led to his attack. And an attacker or attackers in a small town would definately try to cover it up to look like an accident. Lureen was probably pitied in town if people thought her husband was queer. Why not make Jacks death look like an accident to save her from the humiliation of her husband being beat to death as a queer? She may have not known the truth of how he died. Or she she didn't want to know the truth and easily accepted the tire iron story.
--- End quote ---
That's a very good point. Jack was a little reckless sometimes which might lead to his attack. I still think suicide is a possibility but not very likely. This makes me think more that he was murdered, and yes it is more sad to have him murdered than to be killed in an accident.
Mikaela:
How come I've not voted in this one before?!? :o
Anyway, I voted for what I do feel in my heart happened - a gay bashing attack.
But in the short story and the film both, I also think we aren't meant to ever know for sure.
Brown Eyes:
bumping because this was a really interesting discussion
Toast:
Bump
Annie Proulx wrote:
Ennis didn't know about the accident for months until his postcard to Jack saying that November still looked like the first chance came back stamped DECEASED.
Rayn:
Hello Everyone,
It's been awhile since I posted anything on here about Brokeback Mt, but here I am again. Thanks DavidinHartford for agreeing with me 100%... that's always a good feeling, I mean it.
Now, I 'm trying to get it together to go to Alberta for the "Pilgrimage" and it hit me, like I know it has others, Jack isn't dead. Jack never existed, nor did Ennis. They 're characters in a story. And then I think, wait a minute, I'm fixin' ta travel from Korea, not just to see friends and family, but to make a Pilgrimage to Alberta to see where Jack and Ennis lived... ah..... YEAH, LIVED....Then I realize where they are, in the minds of millions, and more, they are alive in many men who lived as they did in the past and remember how far we have come as a human rights minority. Jack and Ennis stepped into Annie's mind then on to the page and into film because they are real to her as anyone you or I know well in our own lives.
They call us like old friends who want to visit and spend time together (& I watch the film again). And now because of where they live, people from all parts of the country and world are taking the time and money to get to know each other, have new experiences, make new friendships, perhaps some that will last a long time. I sit back a moment and marvel at the power of the artist. It is the power of literature and the magic a good writer works in the heart and mind that calls us to stronger connections with one another, so in that wonderful way, Jack is still with us, Ennis too...
Hope to see ya soon,
Rayn
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