And I have a question regarding one of the postcards. Remember when Alma came home one day with the groceries and the mail and she found a card from Jack there? She put it under the newspaper (the one with the 'honey' add). I was wondering if Ennis ever found this card. Come to think of it, Alma could have sabotaged their meeting if she wanted to by intercepting Jack's postcard, as she was apparently dealing with the family mail.
And I have a question regarding one of the postcards. Remember when Alma came home one day with the groceries and the mail and she found a card from Jack there? She put it under the newspaper (the one with the 'honey' add). I was wondering if Ennis ever found this card. Come to think of it, Alma could have sabotaged their meeting if she wanted to by intercepting Jack's postcard, as she was apparently dealing with the family mail.
I can imagine Jack treasuring his "You Bet" card nearly as much as the shirts.
I tend to agree with Fran. Ennis was just so closeted about the whole affair. Plus he seemed so utilitarian. The trailer at the end of the movie, did it have anything sentimental (photos of his daughters) other then Jack's shirt? It seemed most sparse. I think Ennis thought Jack would always be around. Why keep a postcard when you see him every six months?? Ennis probably regrets not keeping the postcards though or whatever other things that would remind him of Jack.
And their wives. Lureen doesn't seem like the type who would go poking around and asking questions unlike Alma who checks up her husband's fishing equipment.
But, I think Ennis's shrine to Jack in his trailer closet is very sentimental. And, he even goes so far as to include a postcard. He's so thoughtful about that little shrine... reversing the shirts, straightening the postcard when it's not quite perfectly aligned, etc. I agree that in his outward life, Ennis is very pragmatic, but he seems to really have a side that's surpisingly sentimental (if that closet is any evidence) and his desire to linger so long in Jack's Lightning Flat bedroom also seems to indicate he has a sentimental side.
No......I dont think they would have, because men dont usually save things like that. Even with the shirts, as wonderful as that was, it was quite a bit out of the ordinary for a man to be so sentimental as to keep those shirts. In fact, I dont think this has ever been discussed, but I wonder when Jack went back to his folks place after sheepherding on Brokeback, did his mother get his clothes out to wash and ask about the blood on the shirt, and Jack maybe told her about Ennis, and it was her who hung the shirts in the closet........(maybe thats another thing that could be discussed here).
Much as my sentimental, overly romantic self would love to say "Yes," I suspect "No" is closer to reality.
Because in the short story, Ennis visited Higgin's Gift Shop and "busied himself with the postcard rack," to purchase the postcard he tacked to the inside of his cupboard door. If he had kept one of Jack's original postcards, he wouldn't have had to purchase the postcard from Higgin's Gift Shop after Jack's death. He would have tacked-up one of Jack's own postcards.
Sue, I think this would make for an interesting discussion topic. Why don't you PM it to Chrissi in case she misses it in this thread.
Kerry, you say:
... Lureen seems to me to be the type of wife who'd go through Jack's pockets), which is why he kept the shirts at Lightning Flat.
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Kerry, and what about Alma, did she say something like that about Ennis when he was her husband?
Yeah....lets face it......most women are curious snoopy little sticky beaks..... ::)Lord Sister, you can say that twice and mean it!
Wherever they might have hidden the postcards, a clever woman would find them.....no doubts about that..... ;D
A lot of people love Lureen, but I'm personally not fond of her, which is why I made the "Jack's pockets" comment, I guess. Mea culpa!
Atz, may I stress BOTH living OUTSIDE the gender norms of their time... and that is one way that I think that Lureen is lesbian, or at least bisexual at least, maybe? ? But everyone disagreed with me previously on my thread about that and some even got angry, unfortunately, without discussing it!
Ennis no, Jack yes
Chrissi--that's a great picture in the first post. I love it.
Ennis bought a new postcard to remind him of their communications when apart; Lureen found Ennis's postcards in Jack's belongings after his death.
That's my vote thinking/basis.
There is something so completely desolate about that, 2 old shirts and a 30 cent postcard. Not a lot to show for 20 years of love.
Thats truth like a dagger!
Yes, I completely agree about the sadness of Ennis not having a lot to hold onto after such a long relationship. I particularly think it's sad that he doesn't have a picture of Jack. That would be really hard
Another thing that always gets me in relation to the final postcard scene, is that we know in the S.S there is no smell of Jack or BBM leftin the shirts,yet after the reunion kiss, when they go upstairs to Alma, Ennis is aware that he can smell Jack on him.
So many opposites in this wonderful thing called Brokeback.Every single thing is bittersweet. I wish that Ennis hd just kept the 1st card, that he almost lovingly caresses.
Merci Herrkaiser!
Your post is very interesting!!
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HerrKaiser, may I disagree a bit ?
Since you say: Jack was unfortunately was under appreciated by her (Lureen)... , may I say that that is NOT nescessary so, because she saw, heard and tried her best. Both, Jack and Lureen got along somehow; right ?
Too, Lureen did try to see Ennis, but Jack was not interested in presenting him, remember?
thanks artiste, but I see no evidence that Lureen 'tried her best' to build a real relationship with Jack. She was clearly controlled by her father and allowed it. She had no intention of disrupting that, even at the expense of her own husband's denigration. Jack seemed disappointed to admit that his marriage could be handled "on the phone", but Lureen seemed to share no such attitude; rather she seemed resigned to the loveless marriage, cynical, and uninterested. So, I think it is definitely fair to say Lureen underappreciated Jack and in her frame of mind/family posture, she would have had very little interest in going through any of Jack's "things".
also, it is not clear that Jack did not want Ennis to come to their (Jack and Lureen's) home. Jack simply knew Ennis would not be able to make the trip for at least two good reasons and TX was not at all the same atmostphere they so enjoyed in WY.
Merci HerrKaiser
But which are the two reasons Ennis did NOT go to Jack and Lureen's home, do you think?
I voted "no" for both.
Ennis is way too paranoid to risk saving even innocent-sounding postcards from Jack.
Jack saved the shirts, long before any postcards were written. What more did he need?
In drawing from the story, Annie suggests there are no saved postcards:
He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands.
Plus, Jack had his memory of the dozy embrace; and Ennis, "suffused with a sense of pleasure", had his dreams.
In drawing from the story, Annie suggests there are no saved postcards:
He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands.
Plus, Jack had his memory of the dozy embrace; and Ennis, "suffused with a sense of pleasure", had his dreams.