TOTW 06/08: Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?

[Penthesilea]

Morning, BetterMostians!

Before we delve into this week's topic, I'd like to post a refresher: you are welcome to make suggestions for a TOTW! You got a specific scene, which never got totally clear to you? Maybe a small line from the SS you continue to mull over?  Or you wonder about a character's motivation in a specific moment? Or maybe you're just curious about your fellow Brokies' opinions about something related to the movie or story? - PM me or Katherine (Ineedcrayons), we're happy to put your question into focus for a week. 


Last week I strayed a bit on other BBM related sites and stumbled across a theory/thought which never crossed my mind before and which I've never seen mentioned anywhere. I'm not sure on which site I read it, but think it was on IMDB. This is another question we won't be able to 'solve' in any way because we just have too few information, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it anyway.

Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?

No. But it sure would be interesting to read why someone would think that.

[Lynne]

This is a really intriguing idea and I can see why it might occur to someone, I think.

I don't have my short story handy (bad Brokie!) but it seems to me that AP goes to great length to describe the details of the morning as beginning like any other for Ennis - his routine of reheating old coffee, peeing in the sink.  One event that makes the day different is that he is going to be moving on and might have to stay with his married oldest daughter.  But you get the impression that his work is largely unreliable and that even this may be a repeat of something that's happened in the past.

The bright spot is Jack's appearance in his dreams which he can use to 'stoke the day' and he hoards them, panel by panel.  I have the impression that it is a special day because Jack does appear to Ennis in dreams - that this not an everyday occurrence.  And there are people who think that departed loved ones communicate with those about to die, perhaps to offer comfort, or ease the journey, or perhaps it's the fragile but distinct demarcation between life and death becoming blurry...

If you couple the metaphor of Ennis packing up and moving on with Jack's appearance in his dreams, I think you could make the argument that this is Ennis' last day.

Fascinating question - thank you, Chrissi!

[Penthesilea]

This topic was just a passing comment, mentioned only in a side-sentence of a post which then moved on to another subject matter.
At first, I was like hunh? 

But the question stuck with me. I took my copy of the STS book and read the prologue again with this question in mind.

The prologue begins and ends with the wind rocking Ennis's trailer. And in between the wind is mentioned a third time. We associate the wind with Jack, so we can interpret the wind accompanying Ennis as Jack's spirit. The wind is a powerful presence in this short part of the story, and it is depicted as very strong, as rocking the trailer, hissing, booming, roaring. In short, it makes a lot of noise, almost like it would call out to Ennis. Is the wind (=Jack) calling Ennis on this day? Many people believe/are waiting for that departed loved ones are calling them "into the other world", when their time has come.


Another point is Ennis dwelling on his dream of Jack: "...lets a panel of the dream slide forward. If he does not force his attention on it, it might stoke the day, ..." Ennis sitting alone in his trailer, slipping deep into the world of his dreams and Jack calling him.

A third point is Annie's sentence "It could be bad on the highway with the horse trailer." Having read Annie's other short stories in Close Range, I fully believe she often intersperses hints of coming events into her stories and especially foreshadows coming doom. So this could be a hint.

One last aspect (for now) is Ennis's age. We don't know how much time has passed since the end of the story, but Ennis's belly and pubic hair is grey. I don't believe Ennis will live to be a very old man. We've discussed this long time ago (hey Jeff, it was you who was very close to my own feelings reagrding this  ); I think due to poor health care, too much alcohol and cigarettes, poor diet, physically hard work and simply not caring about himself after Jack's death, Ennis will not live very long.

[Penthesilea]

The bright spot is Jack's appearance in his dreams which he can use to 'stoke the day' and he hoards them, panel by panel.  I have the impression that it is a special day because Jack does appear to Ennis in dreams - that this not an everyday occurrence.  And there are people who think that departed loved ones communicate with those about to die, perhaps to offer comfort, or ease the journey, or perhaps it's the fragile but distinct demarcation between life and death becoming blurry...

Yes, that's what I meant when I mentioned Ennis dwelling on his dreams. You expressed better what I meant than I did 

If you couple the metaphor of Ennis packing up and moving on with Jack's appearance in his dreams, I think you could make the argument that this is Ennis' last day.

Yes, the packing. At least a part of Ennis' life definitely ends on this day. He has to get out there on this very day.

Fascinating question - thank you, Chrissi!

Thank you  . At first, I found very far off myself. But after thinking about it for a few days I can't dismiss it completely as a possibility.

[optom3]

This is a really intriguing idea and I can see why it might occur to someone, I think.

I don't have my short story handy (bad Brokie!) but it seems to me that AP goes to great length to describe the details of the morning as beginning like any other for Ennis - his routine of reheating old coffee, peeing in the sink.  One event that makes the day different is that he is going to be moving on and might have to stay with his married oldest daughter.  But you get the impression that his work is largely unreliable and that even this may be a repeat of something that's happened in the past.

The bright spot is Jack's appearance in his dreams which he can use to 'stoke the day' and he hoards them, panel by panel.  I have the impression that it is a special day because Jack does appear to Ennis in dreams - that this not an everyday occurrence.  And there are people who think that departed loved ones communicate with those about to die, perhaps to offer comfort, or ease the journey, or perhaps it's the fragile but distinct demarcation between life and death becoming blurry...

If you couple the metaphor of Ennis packing up and moving on with Jack's appearance in his dreams, I think you could make the argument that this is Ennis' last day.

Fascinating question - thank you, Chrissi!

I agree and a few things in the prologue make me feel that.

At the start The wind which is ever present leads to the following,"the shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft"

Ennis is for once happy "suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream"

Ennis is moving on again and as the shirts shudder does that mean Jack is moving with him,or is Ennis moving to jack.

What is even more interesting is that at the end of the prologue the wind "dies" "leaving a temporary silence"Perhaps a stillness and peace of Ennis's heart at long last.

Is ennis about to find peace,following a brief moment of pleasure. There seem so many clues,it could be bad on the highway,the shudder of the shirts,the moment of pleasure and then the silence.

In Proulxs' writing,no detail ever seems superfluous so I am guessing there is so much to be implied from that short paragraph.But as always it is left to us the reader to draw our own conclusion.

Personally I would love to think that the shuddering shirts, (jacks immortal presence)the dream,sfollowed by silence,might mean that at long long last,Ennis will finally be joined with Jack.
 I have heard so many times of people who have witnesssed death being struck,by the complete "silence" of the moment,preceeded by a brief moment of peace/joy.

But then ,could be I am just a hopeless romantic

[jstephens9]

This is a very fascinating question. I always felt something by that paragraph, but I have never been sure what. I am going to read it again and then give my thoughts. I have never considered it meaning Ennis' death that day, but it is always possible.

[BelAir]

well, my off the cuff opinion is, "no"...

I'll be interested to read other's thoughts.

I haven't read the ss in a long time, so I am just going on visceral feelings vs. literary proof.  It seems to me, that the things Annie describes are things Ennis has been through before, and will go through time and time again...  I guess I think if he were to die, I would have felt more closure at the end of the ss, rather than such desperation...  Also, living is 'standing it' whereas, death, in a way, is 'fixin it' and at the end of the story I feel like Ennis is standin not fixin it (not to imply certainly that I am advocating his death as a way of fixing matters).  Also, no reason not to think that Ennis may have had to live with his daughter previously, between jobs?

[delalluvia]

No. But it sure would be interesting to read why someone would think that.

Ditto.  I can't see any reason why anyone would think so, but I'm reading along.

[brokeplex]

Morning, BetterMostians!

Before we delve into this week's topic, I'd like to post a refresher: you are welcome to make suggestions for a TOTW! You got a specific scene, which never got totally clear to you? Maybe a small line from the SS you continue to mull over?  Or you wonder about a character's motivation in a specific moment? Or maybe you're just curious about your fellow Brokies' opinions about something related to the movie or story? - PM me or Katherine (Ineedcrayons), we're happy to put your question into focus for a week. 


Last week I strayed a bit on other BBM related sites and stumbled across a theory/thought which never crossed my mind before and which I've never seen mentioned anywhere. I'm not sure on which site I read it, but think it was on IMDB. This is another question we won't be able to 'solve' in any way because we just have too few information, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it anyway.

Did Ennis die at the day described in the prologue?

I honestly don't see any indications that Ennis died that day. I recall Ennis was concerned about loading the trailer, looking for a new job, and moving in temporarily with his married daughter - I guess Alma, Jr. He was a bit depressed by the thought of those activities, but knew that if he kept Jack in his mind during the day, it would "stoke" his spirits. That doesn't sound like someone who was one the brink of death.

It would seem that the day described in the prologue is many years in the future from 1983 when Jack died. Perhaps AP meant us to think that it is in 1997, around the time she wrote the story. Ennis is described in the prologue as having gray hairs in his lower abdomen, that doesn't usually happen to men until they are in late middle age or early retirement years. I am in my early 50's and I am just now getting a few gray hairs on my chest, all other areas on me, except for the gray in the temples in my hairline, are still nice and toasty brown.

Remember also that AP indicates that a part of her inspiration for writing her ss, was watching an elderly man in his early 60's watching younger men play pool. She was struck by his attention to the guys and not the gals in the room and wondered if he was "country gay". I think this was the start of her purpose in BM, to tell what would happen to a man who was "country gay" and lived to be elderly. She wanted to tell his story.