Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Ennis' reaction to Jack's death.
ednbarby:
I agree with all that's been said here. I just want to add that when my Mom - by far the best and truest friend I ever had - died suddenly and I got the news from my (at the time) semi-estranged brother, I didn't react with any emotion, either. A close friend was over - I remember we were going to go see "The Prince of Tides" that night when the phone rang and changed everything - never could get through that movie ever since - and she would bear witness to that fact. She still talks about it from time to time since as yet, thankfully, she has never lost anyone she loved deeply. How my face just went kind of blank for a moment and then I just went on, although as if I were in kind of a trance, for the next 24 hours. She stayed with me overnight as my at that time new husband was out of town, and she still talks about how she finds it amazing that I never once shed a tear, and after all those years of telling her so many stories about my mother and how close we were.
What she didn't see was the period of time about two months later when it suddenly all came rushing in, as if out of nowhere, and how everything I came in contact with reminded me of her and made my loss of her nearly unbearable. I took three days off from work at that time because I could not stop crying. Looking back, I was just numb those first two months. It was very much like the depression I would experience much later, but I didn't know that at the time. I just went through the motions.
When my brother first told me, it was as if I were in a dream. Of course you know it's real when it's happening, but a part of your brain clicks on (or off?) to protect you - must be an evolutionary, natural selection type thing in my mind - from having a complete and irrevocable nervous breakdown.
Long story short (too late) this is yet another brilliant moment in a film of brilliant moments - brilliant in just how very real and authentic it is. This is what really happens. There is no breakdown at the time - just survival instinct kicking in. That comes later. Just as Ennis' breakdowns in the alley and at the lake did.
jpwagoneer1964:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on July 27, 2006, 08:49:53 pm ---
When my brother first told me, it was as if I were in a dream. Of course you know it's real when it's happening, but a part of your brain clicks on (or off?) to protect you - must be an evolutionary, natural selection type thing in my mind - from having a complete and irrevocable nervous breakdown.
Long story short (too late) this is yet another brilliant moment in a film of brilliant moments - brilliant in just how very real and authentic it is. This is what really happens. There is no breakdown at the time - just survival instinct kicking in. That comes later. Just as Ennis' breakdowns in the alley and at the lake did.
--- End quote ---
In the book Ennis does not believe it at first, thinks its a mistake and when he calls, that Jack will answer
cricket99999:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on July 27, 2006, 08:49:53 pm ---When my brother first told me, it was as if I were in a dream. Of course you know it's real when it's happening, but a part of your brain clicks on (or off?) to protect you - must be an evolutionary, natural selection type thing in my mind - from having a complete and irrevocable nervous breakdown.
--- End quote ---
I agree. When my sister told me of my father's sudden death, I asked a couple questions calmly (Where? She said "At the farm." When? She said "Earlier this afternoon.") Then she asked me "How did you know?" and I said "I didn't." Obviously some people, Ennis included, can use this reaction to shield themselves from overwhelming grief, at least for a time.
dly64:
Barb and Cricket ...
You are making me cry! It brings back all of those feelings when my dad died. Fortunately, I was with him when he died. But, I hardly slept for two days and I didn't completely lose it until his funeral. Even seeing him die, I kept thinking it was a dream. Needless to say, I have never gotten over it .... but have become less angry. It's only taken me 7 f--king years!
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: cricket99999 on July 27, 2006, 09:11:58 pm ---I agree. When my sister told me of my father's sudden death, I asked a couple questions calmly (Where? She said "At the farm." When? She said "Earlier this afternoon.") Then she asked me "How did you know?" and I said "I didn't." Obviously some people, Ennis included, can use this reaction to shield themselves from overwhelming grief, at least for a time.
--- End quote ---
I think that is a kind of survival mechanism, the brain putting really bad news in a kind of holding pattern so it doesn't overwhelm too much. And added to that in BBM is Ennis' stoic nature. But even then, you can hear the catches in his voice in both the telephone scene and at Jack's parents'.
My own father's death wasn't sudden, but I did have a delayed reaction. He'd been ill for a number of years and I was very calm about it until I got to the airport to fly home. Until the last year, he'd always been at that airport to meet me with my Mom, and it suddenly hit me that while I might fly into that airport again, he wouldn't be there. Going through his things, giving a eulogy at his funeral, none of that phased me but that damn airport made me break down completely.
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