How old was Ennis, when his parents died?

[j.U.d.E.]

I had this thread going on TOB way back in the troll-free times (I think it was then). I think we may never know exactly how old Ennis was, when he lost his parents, but whatever his age, he was young and that fact alone also adds to his personality. With so many feelings he seems to have had to repress during childhood and adolescence, the fact that both his parents die (in a car crash no less) when he was so young (I’m guessing between 11 and 14 -> We see him as 9-year old with his father and brother and in another scene Ennis says he got himself a year of high school, apparently just after his parents died) must have been a total tragedy and devastation emotionally. It did not help to make Ennis a happy man. Also, we don’t know how old his brother (maybe 2/3 years older than Ennis) or sister were, but having lost ones parents so abruptly, growing up poor in a stark and rough area and being raised by your siblings who are barely adults themselves, has surely added to Ennis’ trist character and isolation. I guess that’s where his reluctance to committing to people stems – fear of commitment for fear of loss. But loss strikes again and again. I can’t but help understand Ennis’ way of being. So when we first see Ennis in the film, his parents only just died about 5-7 years ago. I think when it happens so young, you never fully recover and that’s what Ennis is carrying all through the film.

I have a friend (he is 46 now I think) who’s parents died (in a car crash!) when he was 21. He has 2 much older brothers, but he was already married and settled when it happened and I guess he did not grow up as poor and isolated as Ennis. Pretty horrible though.

~ j U d E

[MaineWriter]

I think it was in the story, but I don't have it right here, that his brother was 3 years older than Ennis.

And yes, I'd put it that his parents were killed when he was between 11 and 14, but for some reason, I picture it being closer to 14.

L

[slayers_creek_oth]

And yes, I'd put it that his parents were killed when he was between 11 and 14, but for some reason, I picture it being closer to 14.

As did I Leslie....

[Jeff Wrangler]

I don't have the text with me here at work, but I'd say K.E. was three years older than Ennis.

I don't remember whether Ennis says so exactly in the story, but I do remember him telling Jack a story in the motel about how his father essentially told him to beat up his older brother to stop K.E. from picking on him. What sticks in my memory is that the father told Ennis he had to do something about it or it would still be happening when Ennis "was 90 and K.E. was 93."

The story doesn't say anything about how much older the sister was, but I've assumed she must have been the eldest and at least in her upper teens if not even older to keep custody of K.E. and Ennis after the parents died.

[j.U.d.E.]

I keep forgetting the short story when I start a thread here.. I have to read it again..

Anyway, my guess was too, that Ennis was closer to 14 (or so) when he lost his parents. So that makes it just about 5 years ago, counting from the day 'we meet him'. So it's just perfectly normal, that he is gloom and doom.. well not entirely. But I think it did cast a permanent shadow over his life and though we see him happy with Alma at first and then with Jack, I think Ennis' rough childhood and young adulthood has marked him for life. He seems depressed and repressed most of the time.

Oah, writing this makes me feel gloomy..

~ j U d E  

[Penthesilea]

From the story:

"Ennis, reared by his older brother and sister after their parents drove off the only curve on Dead Horse Road leaving them twenty-four dollars in cash and a two-mortgage ranch, applied at age fourteen for a hardship liscense that let him make the hour-long trip from the ranch to the high-school. "

So I think Ennis must have been 14 or short of 14 when his parents died.
"Shit. That's hard." Jack nailed it.

[Ellemeno]

From the story:

"Ennis, reared by his older brother and sister after their parents drove off the only  curve on Dead Horse Road leaving them twenty-four dollars in cash and a two mortgage ranch, applied at age fourteen for a hardship license that let him make the  hour-long trip from the ranch to the high school."

"I come up under my brother K.E., three years older'n me, slugged me silly ever day.  Dad got tired a me come bawlin in the house and when I was about six he set me  down and says, Ennis, you got a problem and you got a fix it or it's gonna be with you  until you're ninety and K.E.'s ninety-three."

And it looks like in the story he doesn't say how old he was when his father took him to see Earl's body.

[slayers_creek_oth]

And it looks like in the story he doesn't say how old he was when his father took him to see Earl's body.

Doesn't Ennis say in the film that he was 8 or 9 years old...

[MaineWriter]

Doesn't Ennis say in the film that he was 8 or 9 years old...

He says he was 9, "I was just nine years old" but was sounds like warn't which some have interpreted to mean he was younger...but I'm sticking to 9.

[slayers_creek_oth]

He says he was 9, "I was just nine years old" but was sounds like warn't which some have interpreted to mean he was younger...but I'm sticking to 9.

Thats what I thought......I too am stickin to that...

[Jeff Wrangler]

From the text:

"I was what, nine years old and they found Earl dead in a irrigation ditch."

[littleguitar]

So when we first see Ennis in the film, his parents only just died about 5-7 years ago

Wow, for some reason that fact never struck me when I watched the movie, that makes it even more sad to me.  When we're talking losing a parent, 5 years is not a lot of time.  It really makes sense that this in part contributes to his isolation.

Great thread!

[slayers_creek_oth]

Wow, for some reason that fact never struck me when I watched the movie, that makes it even more sad to me.  When we're talking losing a parent, 5 years is not a lot of time.  It really makes sense that this in part contributes to his isolation.

Great thread!

Agreed!  Makes you feel for Ennis even more...

[Brown Eyes]

I think Ennis's status as an orphan is a tremendously interesting part of the story.  Given his rough upbringing (his father subjecting him to something as awful as the sight of Earl's body/ his father making sure Ennis knew the details of that horrible incident, his brother beating him up all the time, losing his parents, etc., etc.) it makes the sweetness he finds in Jack seem all the more wonderful.  You get the sense that by the time he met Jack he not only hadn't spoken much to anyone for a long time (as he tells Jack), but that he certainly hadn't had any kind of affection (like a hug, or a kiss, etc... no lullabies from his Mom) for ages either.  Jack's warmth must have seemed like a whole new world compared to the mean-spiritedness of his father and the seeming coldness of his siblings (no more room for Ennis).  Ennis's embrace in the flashback while humming his Mother's lullaby to Jack is almost too heartbreaking when you really think about it...

No wonder Ennis was upset about parting ways with Jack at the end of the Brokeback summer.  Ennis probably would have just been consumed with fears of abandonment based on all of his loss as a child/ younger teenager.

The other thing that I find fascinating about Ennis as an orphan is his interaction with Jack's parents at the end.  Back on imdb there were great, long threads about the lengths Jack's Mother goes to in order to make Ennis welcome.  To make this point in a concise way... If Ennis had moved up to Lightning Flat with Jack as Jack had dreamed, then Ennis would have found himself with a new and loving Mother-figure in his life.  Dealing with Jack's Dad on a regular basis probably would have been stressful and almost a comedy of errors at times.  But, you get the sense that Jack's Mom would have tried her best to be great to Ennis if he had moved there with Jack.  Her level of generosity and understanding to him in this one brief visit goes a long way to supporting this idea I think.  In a more general sense, it's wonderful to see how respectful Ennis is of Jack's Mom and how almost fascinated he seems by her.

[moremojo]

  In a more general sense, it's wonderful to see how respectful Ennis is of Jack's Mom and how almost fascinated he seems by her.

This ties into the notion I have that Ennis and Jack, in addition to all the other things they are to one another, are also spiritual brothers. I remember writing a post exploring some of this idea on TOB, which I recopied and archived on teamtremblay. I might dig it up sometime and submit it here on BetterMost.

Interestingly, in both story and screenplay, we are told that Ennis doesn't see much of Jack in either of the Twists, but in the actual experience of the film, I can't help but feel that Ennis surely senses some of Jack's loving presence in the mother's quiet, dignified compassion. Roberta Maxwell's luminous blue eyes certainly remind me of Jake's, and each time we see Ennis regard Mrs. Twist, there is a look of sincere and grateful appreciation on his face.

Scott

[Brown Eyes]

Interestingly, in both story and screenplay, we are told that Ennis doesn't see much of Jack in either of the Twists, but in the actual experience of the film, I can't help but feel that Ennis surely senses some of Jack's loving presence in the mother's quiet, dignified compassion. Roberta Maxwell's luminous blue eyes certainly remind me of Jake's, and each time we see Ennis regard Mrs. Twist, there is a look of sincere and grateful appreciation on his face.

Oh, I totally agree.  I think the filmmakers went out of their way to make Ennis see bits of Jack in both the Mother and the Father.  The casting here is good, so that it is very plausible that Jack/ Jake could be related to these two people physically speaking.  Absolutely, the warm and large blue eyes are key to the similarity to the Mother.  I think the deliberate "tell you what..." from Jack's Dad is meant to be a big reminder of Jack since we've heard Jack start his sentences like that often.  What a contrast though between Mr. Twist's spiteful bitterness and Jack's warmer tone.  The most important instance of "tell you what..." clearly is the "sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it" conversation.  It's amazing how much Ennis learns about Jack in this brief visit. 

[TJ]

From the book: I was what, nine years old and they found Earl dead in a irrigation ditch.

Ennis was older than 9 years old, which we all know, but he was younger than 14, when his parents died in the vehicle accident on the highway.

Since his brother, K. E. was 3 years older, K. E. might have already finished high school or dropped out before Ennis' 14th Birthday. Their sister could have been the eldest child.

Under normal circumstances, Ennis would have been in the 8th Grade around the time he turned 14 years old. Since the "hardship license" was for him to attend "high school" then the Sage area school system must have grades 7 through 12 as "high school" grades.

In 1963 and even many years earlier, boys who lived in the country in Kansas and Oklahoma could get "Farm to Market/Farm to School" when they were 14 years old; although one could get a regular driver's license at age 16. Those special licenses had limits/curfews on how late in the day a younger teen could drive a vehicle.

[Front-Ranger]

Beautiful thoughts, Amanda, TJ, and Scott.

[Ellemeno]

No wonder Ennis was upset about parting ways with Jack at the end of the Brokeback summer.  Ennis probably would have just been consumed with fears of abandonment based on all of his loss as a child/ younger teenager.

Yes, they played it just right, making him have a non-verbal pout and then tantrum.

And I've thought Ennis says in the film, "I wasn't but nine years old..."  "Wasn't but," almost like "Neither of them were 20."

[Artiste]

Ennis was therefore vulnerable ?

[Brown Eyes]

Ennis was therefore vulnerable ?

Yes, I think underneath Ennis's "tough-guy" exterior image he's a very vulnerable person.  And, I think Jack senses this pretty early on.

[Artiste]

Merci atz !

Do you think that that harsh impression Ennis had seing that tortured body of that gay man, forever left him wanting to be safe ?

Au revoir,
hugs!                                        On Oprah to-day was this girl who was young when someone entered the house and murdered her father who was sleeping with another gay man !! She never felt safe afterwards ! What do you think ?