Keep in mind that I was listing every possible purpose I could think of or have heard of for the scene, with the caveat that not all of the ideas were equally legitimate. I think it's actually a combination of more than one of these (the most easily defensible is probably that Ennis got in barfights in the story).
I'm not sure about the "not confronting him about Jack" part, but I think the other point isn't turning "anti-biker violence toward her," but rather that maybe Alma has never seen Ennis being violent before, and now she knows her husband is capable of violence.
Sure. But some people have pointed to this as explaining why she never confronts Ennis about Jack. My feeling is just because he beats up a couple of slop-bucket-mouthed bikers, ostensibly in defense of Alma, doesn't mean he would turn the same violence toward
her, and few wives would draw that conclusion. But yeah, if you just want to say this scene shows Alma that Ennis can be violent with obnoxious strangers, that's indisputable.
Now, there's an interesting thought! Except I'm totally missing the part about Jack progressing and settling things with words. When did we see him being violent like Ennis?
I meant Jack used words both times and Ennis used fists both times; Jack's approach initially failed but eventually worked, and Ennis' initially worked but eventually didn't. They're not perfect parallels, because the situations are all different. But in all four scenes, they are confronting some sort of challenge to their "masculinity," so I think the parallel is deliberate.
And SBF, you're right, I kind of sneaked that one in about July 4th, there's no evidence that the Jimbo scene takes place on that day. It adds to the parallel to notice that Ennis' experience is on a holiday, and then the later events also take place on a holiday (both American holidays, for what that's worth). The Jimbo scene is not explicitly on the 4th. That would be too neat and obvious. But the two scenes (4th and Jimbo) take place one after another, so presumably they happened close to each other in time.
And personally I'd hardly call the language he uses to L.D. Newsome "progress."
Why, Jeff! For
some reason I never took you for a person with delicate sensibilities regarding coarse language! I will be sure to watch my own tongue around you in the future.