Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by gljbradley (Tue Feb 27 2007 22:51:37 )
I have like a problem with one of its scenes.The scene where Ennis and Jack have sex for the first time after a day of working,talking,drinking,and buddy bonding,it kinda puzzles me and makes me puzzled and yet,surprised.
Okay,here's what I don't get.It's probably in the middle of the night or whatever,and I saw Jack take his arm out of the covers and start felling around for Ennis' hand and finally got it and you know what he did with it... But as he done this,maybe I'm mistaken,but I saw his other hand(under the covers)moving on his crotch.Then,it stopped when he moved his other hand along with Ennis' hand and move down in the same place. I'll come backe to that so I can get to the point.Once Ennis knew what was happening,he quickly pulled away like he touch fire.And Jack what appears to me was tryig to stop him from leaving? What do y'all think? They just looked at eachother for a moment in shock.Then,Jack continued trying to touch or seduce him by first removing his coat as he was still looking at him(with desire).When he attempted to touch him on the face,Ennis sort of rebuffed it and fought him.Look like they were fighting kinda but then calmed down for some reason.Once he(they) was calmed,he unfastened his pants.What get's me is that why was Jack coninuing to try and sexually touch Ennis in that manner?It's like he was a completely different person than what he normally be.He's usually acting funny,crazy,wild,boisterous,and strong-willed.Now,he's acting so seductive,sexually aroused,and so intense when it comes to passion.
The important questions that I want to know refers to Jack's and Ennis'action and what they were probably thinking.
These questions applies to Jack:Did Jack plan on trying to have sex with Ennis that night or was it just spontaneous and that he became so sexaully aroused that he couldn't help himself?Did he wanted to take that opportunity to get into Ennis' pants at that time even though he hadn't before?What made him do it to the point where he can't hold it all in?Judging from that scene and compare it to the previous scenes with the both of them,was he expressing his true 'deep' feelings for Ennis?Was he mastubating at first?Did he want Ennis around him in the tent,especially since it was cold,to finally make the first move,even though that's his best friend?Was he trying to kiss him?Was he in serious pain while Ennis...'DID IT' to him because his moans kinda sounded like torture mixed with desire?Would he what've apoligized to Ennis if he didn't go any further?Did he ever think how Ennis would feel about it?
Now,here's the Ennis questions:How come Ennis didn't just continuing leaving the tent when Jack was trying to get a hold of him?Did he somehow knew that Jack was gonna do something to him like that that caused him,at first,not to go to sleep in the tent with him?How did he become so vicousliy,sexually aroused so fast?Why did he give in to Jack and unfasten his pants?You think he would've punched Jack if he was real,real annoyed by it,even though that's his best friend?Was he choking because his moans sounded like he was having trouble breathing?Was he very scared when Jack made the first move on him?
Sorry that it's a lot of questions.It's just that there are so many things you have to think about when it comes to the tent sex scene with them.I hope you guys know the answers because I'm so confused on whether they wanted this to happen or not.
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by Rontrigger (Tue Feb 27 2007 23:30:18 )
The tension between them had been building for a month. It finally just exploded.
Yes, they wanted it to happen. Certainly, at that moment, Jack did. Notice that after Ennis finally comes into the tent and we see that shot of the full moon (emphasizing that it's been a month since their arrival), we see a large amount of empty space on the ground inside the tent--Jack had moved much closer to Ennis than before. Then, perhaps fortified by the whiskey, he made his move. He was taking a big chance, of course, but he got his wish.
So did Ennis. Remember what it says in the short story: "...nothing he'd ever done before, but no instruction manual needed." He could quite easily have punched Jack or at least stormed out into the cold, but he didn't. He hesitated, asking Jack "what're you doin'?" as Jack took off his coat, indicating pretty clearly what he was doing. But then, Ennis took charge, as he always would.
A number of posters have indicated that an intense, "rough" first encounter is not unlikely between two guys. Notice how it evolved, apparently just the following night, into Tent Scene 2. (Now no one can tell ME that that was rough--or unmanly, either.)
There's intensity and there's tenderness between Jack and Ennis--and perhaps most importantly, there's true friendship. They were meant for each other.
"You can't have Ennis without Jack."--Annie Proulx
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by samrim-1 (Wed Feb 28 2007 23:51:16 )
UPDATED Thu Mar 1 2007 03:29:15
<<There's intensity and there's tenderness between Jack and Ennis--and perhaps most importantly, there's true friendship. They were meant for each other.>>
Love that Ron, you are so right!
I agree with what you and others have said here, TS1 was teenage passion after a quiet time getting to know each other, and was possibly more like a drunken Friday night 'one night stand', with little invested in it beyond the physical. I doubt whether the half asleep Jack shouting to the freezing Ennis, 'get in here', had any thought of seduction, just the wish to make him be quiet. TS2 was completely different; In some ways THAT was really their first night, full of love and tenderness. I remember how Ennis waiting outside the tent was crouching by the fire,waiting to go to the place where he most wanted to be, so shy, so innocent really. Oh yes, as a ranch hand he was not innocent about sex, but he was a beginner when it came to love.
Sam
"Jack leaned against the steady heartbeat".
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by stephen-mellor (Tue Feb 27 2007 23:50:10 )
These are good questions, and if Ennis and Jack were real people, I doubt they could answer them.
There are no unarguable answers, but here are mine. They had, over the last month and more, found a companion "where none had been expected", and they had opened up to each other, in Ennis' case more to Jack than to anyone, probably ever, but certainly since he saw Earl's body ten years prior.
This companionship was charged, less with outright lust than with sexual confusion. Jack sought men for sex consistently throughout his life, and Ennis overcame his own fear and revulsion for Jack, at least. (I am of the opinion that Ennis may never had had sex with men had he not met Jack--just gone through life knowing something was missing and afraid to label what it was, let alone act on it.)
Their inhibitions were lowered by alcohol and loneliness broken only proximity to each other.
You see all of this confusion, internal debate, sudden decision-making, and finally action played out (brilliantly IMO) by these two great actors. They were able to project this confusion to the degree that *you* are unclear as to their intentions, just as much as were they.
To make this concrete, let's imagine you (me, whoever) are prone to drinking too much, and you're staying with a friend who keeps beer in his fridge. You get up for a Coke, open the fridge and take out a beer. Did you want it to happen or not? We can answer the question in a lot of ways: Yes--you went to the fridge pretending to yourself you wanted a coke, but really it was beer you wanted; No--you actually picked up the wrong thing; No--you changed your mind at the last minute; Yes--you arranged to stay with his friend because you knew he kept beer around. Could you answer the question definitively either before you reach the fridge or after? If you're confused enough about your drinking, I doubt it.
In the end, we each have to place our own interpretation of what we see.
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by gljbradley (Wed Feb 28 2007 17:28:04 )
Thanks guys.It mostly helped me understand a little bit of their intentions.
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by LauraGigs (Wed Feb 28 2007 20:10:15 )
UPDATED Thu Mar 1 2007 00:14:13
"It's like [Jack] was a completely different person than what he normally be.He's usually acting funny,crazy,wild,boisterous,and strong-willed.Now,he's acting so seductive,sexually aroused,and so intense when it comes to passion."
Don't we all act a bit different then? If a person seduces someone in the exact same manner as taking out the garbage, it'd be rather boring IMO.
"Now,here's the Ennis questions . . . "
An earlier scene gives an important clue about Ennis. Remember he's saying, "tent don't look right" and fussing with it, even though he's not supposed to be sleeping there. (He & Jack had traded jobs, remember? At that point, if you'd asked him if he liked Jack, he'd have denied it with his last macho breath. But something quite different was going on in his subconscious.)
"Did he somehow knew that Jack was gonna do something to him like that that caused him,at first,not to go to sleep in the tent with him?"
It could be that he was afraid that he'd not be able to control himself around Jack . . .
"How did he become so vicousliy,sexually aroused so fast?"
Hmmm... 19 years old + Alcohol + Morning wood (or midnight wood in this case)...
"as he very scared when Jack made the first move on him?"
He was scared to death about what giving in to Jack would reveal about him: that he might be queer — a crime deserving death as far as his upbringing was concerned.
Re: Planned Sex or Spontaneous Sex in the Tent?
by gljbradley (Thu Mar 1 2007 17:38:54 )
Ennis and Jack never talked about sex since they were on the job and became friends. So,the no words about sex but the action of sex is relevant in their case.
Not exactly plannned, Jack just goes for it when the situation crops up
by balrog_ressurected_again (Thu Mar 1 2007 19:43:18 )
I'd say after a month of hanging out together, they knew each other pretty well. Jack has used his intuition (today we call this gaydar) to conclude that Ennis is into it. Jack has been thinking about getting into a scene with Ennis, when the opportunity presents itself he goes for it. Ennis was giving off waves that Jack interpreted as meaning 'I'm probably into it'
Aren't there people in your own life who you think will sleep with you given the right circumstances? Same thing going on here.
Begone trolls...
Re: Not exactly plannned, Jack just goes for it when the situation crops
by stephen-mellor (Thu Mar 1 2007 21:10:43 )
Quite so, Balrog. "You may be a sinner, but I ain't yet had the opportunity."
"Hmmmmm."
