what possessed Jack to take that shirt in the first place?

[Front-Ranger]

As the mother of two teenagers, I can assure you that the shirts were hidden there specifically to keep them safe from laundry-day raids!! Remember, the sleeves had blood on them!!

[delalluvia]

Along these lines, it's significant that the shirts ended up in Lightning Flat, and not (apparently ever) in Childress. Jack certainly would not have wanted to risk having to explain them to Lureen, but he would have been separated from these emotionally charged totems for fairly long periods of time, a scenario that might compound our understanding of Jack's loneliness and pining for Ennis.

Oh, no way the shirts would have found a home in Childress.  That wasn't 'home' to Jack.  The shirts and the memories they invoked belonged in Wyoming.  And yes, the unbearable yearning for something substantial - whether Ennis himself or at the least their shirts - would have really affected Jack.

[Shuggy]

and that it smelt of me,

When I was about 4 or 5, I used to wrap myself in my mother's pyjamas after she got up because they smelt of her. And look how Ennis holds the shirts to his face/nose when he finds them - isn't that one of the most potent images - if not THE most - in the film?

[Katie77]

I might be wrong here but I think he did have something else. When Ennis goes into Jack's room he finds the wooden horse and cowboy figurine he himself had carved (think earlier in the movie where they show Ennis inside the tent carving, what seems to me, said horse and cowboy). This is something I haven't seen a lot of people talk about. I'd think that Ennis gave the figurine to Jack and that he did so before they left the mountain the first time. So, in my mind, Jack did have something to remind him of Ennis.

I think that Jack realized how strongly he loved Ennis and was scared that he'll never see Ennis again. The closest he would come to Ennis was to have something very close to Ennis, i.e. his shirt. And with it the smells, memories and even blood. In my mind, the blood almost elevated the importance of the shirt to Jack, since it is a very real reminder of a very real person and a very real love. Am I making sense here? Time for bed...

I agree with you about the wooden horse and rider that was on Jack's dresser...that it was probably one that Ennis had made....maybe not the one we saw him carving, but he probably did others while he was waiting around doing nothing on brokeback.

I have sat here pondering what I think why Jack took the shirts in the first place, and I have come up with a few thoughts. 


One is that Jack mistakenly took the shirt when he picked up his own.

The logical and emotional reason of course, is that he wanted a memento of his time with Ennis on the mountain, because at that time he didnt know if they would ever meet up again.....this indicates that Jack's feelings then were all ready very strong, he knew then, that he didnt want to ever forget Ennis....When they were saying their good-byes, he said he was going to his parents ranch to help out, so I guess it was then he put the shirts away in the back of the closet.....When Ennis found them all those years later, it was then, that he realized that Jack had loved him from the very beginning.

[Momof2]

I do think Jack took the shirts so he would have something of Ennis'.  Not that it is the same, but my oldest sister died while I was a Sophmore in college.  I kept alot of her clothes for the simple fact that I wanted a visible physical piece of her.  I could take them out and think of her.  My little boy will smell something of mine and look at me with the most unbelievable smille and say "It smells like Mommie."  Melts my heart.  Sents can trigger powerful memories.  I smelled a lotion the other day that made me think of my Nana when I was 7 or 8 years old.  That was a long time ago, but it was like I was standing in her living room.

I think that Jack knew then that he was in love and I also think that when he said he was going to Lightning Flat to help his folks out through the winter that would be his only connection to Ennis and at least he would have something to help get through the winter.

[jpwagoneer1964]

I do think Jack took the shirts so he would have something of Ennis'.  Not that it is the same, but my oldest sister died while I was a Sophmore in college.  I kept alot of her clothes for the simple fact that I wanted a visible physical piece of her.  I could take them out and think of her.  My little boy will smell something of mine and look at me with the most unbelievable smille and say "It smells like Mommie."  Melts my heart.  Sents can trigger powerful memories.  I smelled a lotion the other day that made me think of my Nana when I was 7 or 8 years old.  That was a long time ago, but it was like I was standing in her living room.

I think that Jack knew then that he was in love and I also think that when he said he was going to Lightning Flat to help his folks out through the winter that would be his only connection to Ennis
nd at least he would have something to help get through the winter.

well put

[Katie77]

I do think Jack took the shirts so he would have something of Ennis'.  Not that it is the same, but my oldest sister died while I was a Sophmore in college.  I kept alot of her clothes for the simple fact that I wanted a visible physical piece of her.  I could take them out and think of her.  My little boy will smell something of mine and look at me with the most unbelievable smille and say "It smells like Mommie."  Melts my heart.  Sents can trigger powerful memories.  I smelled a lotion the other day that made me think of my Nana when I was 7 or 8 years old.  That was a long time ago, but it was like I was standing in her living room.

I think that Jack knew then that he was in love and I also think that when he said he was going to Lightning Flat to help his folks out through the winter that would be his only connection to Ennis and at least he would have something to help get through the winter.

I understand completely what you mean, I have been there too......

I also lost my eldest sister, aged 22, back in 1971, and I remember just wanting to smell her clothes....I would feel that she was there with me, instantly...it was something tangible......even years later, i would hold her clothes to try to get some scent of her.

I also have a bottle of the same perfume that I wore when I was 17 when i first met my husband, and as soon as I spray it on, I feel 17 again, and I am back in 1968.

Yes, the power of smell is is wonderful, and I am sure Jack held those shirts many many times to feel Ennis near him.....when I picture him doing that, I am filled with sadness, but also pleased that he had something to cling on to.

[Rayn]

"What possessed Jack to take that shirt in the first place?"

To have forever the sheer joy of a secret keepsake of love! 

Why else?   

Unfortunately, for Ennis, that secret joy turned forever into the deepest secret grief. 

Rayn

[Scott6373]

"What possessed Jack to take that shirt in the first place?"

To have forever the sheer joy of a secret keepsake of love! 

Why else?   

Unfortunately, for Ennis, that secret joy turned forever into the deepest secret grief. 

Rayn

If you view the story objectively, you will soon realize that everything that was Jack's secret joy ended up being Ennis' realized grief.  One could only hope that as time passed, Ennis viewed the shirt as less a reminder of mistakes made and opportunites missed, but as a visible symbol that good, great and wonderfull things happen all the time in out lives, and most fo them do not enter out lives with thunder claps and brass bands.  Rather, they show thmeselves in the soft gentle coming of love.

[Rayn]

If you view the story objectively, you will soon realize that everything that was Jack's secret joy ended up being Ennis' realized grief.  One could only hope that as time passed, Ennis viewed the shirt as less a reminder of mistakes made and opportunites missed, but as a visible symbol that good, great and wonderfull things happen all the time in out lives, and most fo them do not enter out lives with thunder claps and brass bands.  Rather, they show thmeselves in the soft gentle coming of love.

Thank you Scott6373... that's so true, but also, it means a great deal to me in my own life right now and to hear it from the outside from another really helps.  Love, old or new, can be confusing sometimes, but when it arrives in your life, the best thing to do is recognize it as a great gift to share with another.

Rayn