I had more or less been glossing over these darker aspects of B&C but these recent posts have got me pondering & I have come up with two ideas that could represent a potential explanation. However, I have commited the cardinal sin of not going back to rigorously research all the source material (ie re-read) & so these ideas are nothing more than clutching at straws in the asbsence of anything else. I’ll stick them here FWIW.
First – Ennis has a guilt complex causing inner pressure, from jilting Alma, from being a sinner, from being queer, etc Although he loves Jack completely, at some subconscious & mean level he also sees Jack as the cause of this inner turmoil (I got this from the cannon Ennis at the lake scene; “it’s cos of you….”). He knows to release the inner pressure he needs a violent outlet so by asking Jack to dispense this, he gets his outlet & eases that mean internal voice by knowing that it is also punishing Jack as it hurts Jack to do it. Ennis is not aware of this complex explanation though.
Second – similar to above but with a more self aware Ennis. He has the inner turmoil & knows he needs the physical outlet, hence the “accidents” he’s been having around the ranch – tearing his hand on fencing, etc He realizes this is not enough of an outlet & can’t let himself be more careless in case it ends up more seriously & he ends up badly hurt so can’t work on the ranch (or worse). If that happened, it would end up hurting Jack by causing all sorts of hassle. He also realizes he can’t go off into the town & get into random fights, as that would certainlyl ook odd. So he reaches out to Jack to mete out the violence on him, as he thinks Jack would want to help him out & it also imposes a control valve, ie he knows Jack wouldn’t go too far –even though he’s aware it is hard on Jack, at least it means his feelings are dealt with, which is better for the both of them & the relationship, & Ennis remains in one piece.
I certainly think that whatever the reasons, then Ennis is not doing it out of conscious maliciousness towards Jack. I would also like to think there is an actual explanation as why else would the author throw this in? Quite amusingly this fic is often referred to as a Utopian Ranch Fic yet these episodes are definitely not utopian!