But I guess Ennis wanted to avoid any temptation
It's really telling that the camera focuses on Ennis (and we first hear his voice clearly) in the "...lead us not into temptation..." part of the Lord's Prayer, isn't it?
Interesting answers, everyone. I can't decide whether Jack thought he would never see Ennis again after the punch, or whether he still held out hope that Ennis would come back the next summer (until their conversation by the truck? until Ennis wasn't at Aguirre's trailer the next summer?). Was Jack taking the shirt to remember Ennis by forever (like keeping the clothing of a deceased love one... like the way Ennis keeps the shirts in the end), or was he taking the shirt to keep the memories fresh through the winter (like Eddy's boyfriend, maybe?), or as a sort of token of unspoken commitment (which, I guess, was what my boyfriend and I were doing with our exchanged clothing... certainly when we returned them, we were saying the relationship was over for good)?
Interesting point about Jack asking about Ennis, opinionista. I've wondered how Jack knew to send that postcard to Riverton.
(And Mikaela, I think you're right, that asking for a shirt would have forced Ennis to admit too much to himself. I guess the expression "touchy-feely" doesn't quite work in that context, because the touching and feeling were actually the things that Ennis was comfortable doing. But all the symbolic stuff, from saying "I love you" out loud to openly exchanging clothing... yeah, that's not the Ennis I see on the screen. And I guess I asked because I, personally, would have left with nothing rather than take a shirt. But then my personality is more like Ennis than Jack.)
Another question: when do you all think that Jack layered Ennis's shirt inside his own? Right away, up there on the mountain? Some time during that winter in Lightning Flat? After the reunion? After one of the other "fishing trips"?