"There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe..."

[opinionista]

I actually performed on of my daily meditations on this line. Whatever its meaning, it is profoundly stated and suggests a great many things in my opinion. It can be interpreted practically any way. See Daily Meditation 23. http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=538.msg49485#msg49485.

The beauty of love and romance, in part, is due to the natural opposition of death and life. Where there is hope, death cannot enter. There is open space between what we know and what we try to believe. But there is definitely something we can do. To take one step into that space: to wonder, to hope, to think, to believe, can immensely change a person's life from its drab, nonessential existence to a lively performance of play between soul and body, heart and mind. Whether or not this play resolves the situation is not important. What is important is that we not simply stand the situation and do nothing to resolve our pain and anguish.

I agree. Very beautifully put Daniel.

[ednbarby]

I agree with all of you, and how about this, too...

Much as it tears at me to say it, I think part of what Ennis knew was that the choices he made did help lead to Jack's death.
(Like Jake himself and many others have said before, once Jack was sure that Ennis would never really be with him, that's when he began to die.)

Far as what Ennis tried to believe (and this tears at me, too, that he isn't sure) - he could only try to believe that, given the chance in November, he would finally have said yes to Jack ("Jack, I swear.."),
and saved Jack, and himself.

Dammit.  I'm tearing up at my desk at work *again*.  Let's hope no one comes by in the next minute or two telling me I forgot to use the new cover page on my expense report...

That puts a new spin on "Jack, I swear..." I'd never considered, Lynn.  As the line goes, it's sad, and wonderful.  But mostly sad.    

[Jeff Wrangler]

Phew!  That's a sad take on it, Jeff, but it does make sense to me.  Ennis didn't have a lot of self confidence, and I could see him worrying that Jack had found someone more compatible, maybe more 'fun' (as he said to Cassie) to share his life with. 

Ennis had to know that Jack loved him, but a big part of Ennis's grief must have centered on the fact that he drove Jack to do what he did by his refusal to give Jack what he needed.  He tried to believe that he had been right to refuse, but in the end, he knew that that refusal had cost them both dearly. 

It is sad. But what I try to believe, for my own sake as well as Ennis's, is that he came to terms with the open space and the uncertainty. We don't know how much time has elapsed between the end of the story and the prologue that now begins the text. But we do know that in the prologue, Ennis awoke that morning "suffused with happiness" because Jack had been in his dream. I find that hopeful, and on that I base my hope.

[whiteoutofthemoon]

Ah yes, a very profound line in the short story.....   to me, just like "I swear", it is open to many interpretations, and I think Proulx intended it that way...The whole sadness of the line is not the what he knew or what he believed, but the words "some open space", conjuring up images of the huge and cold, lonely plain, one that Ennis will have to spend the rest of his life on, alone.     This brings up a literary technique (i forget what it's called), where the lines may not necessarily make sense, but rather it's the feeling the words themselves give that is significant.   I read that line and I think of hopelessness, regret, loneliness, longing for something that was within his grasp, but is now lost forever.     Wow. 

In other words...."it could have been".

[serious crayons]

I've always assumed it had something to do with the way Jack died, but I also had a niggling feeling that there's more to it. All of the interpretations here fit the sentence so well that now I'm thinking it's a theme woven throughout the story, applying to many different issues that provoked emotional conflict for Ennis.

Another example: There was a space between what he knew (that he was gay) and what he tried to believe (that he wasn't).

Apparently, for Ennis, having a space between what he knows and what he tries to believe is a common occurrence. (Maybe it is for all of us! But that's too deep a philosophical question for me to try to answer sitting at a computer in a public library.)

[Brown Eyes]

Hey there Mel!  Great thread.  Isn't that one of the most beautiful lines?  Lovely. 

I think it's a combination of what you (Mel) posted in the first post (about his love for Jack and the extent to which he understands his own sexuality and identity) and the confusion over the manner of Jack's death.  Maybe this statement, which is at its essence a statement about ambiguity as such, can relate back to all sorts of unresolved aspects of their story.  Maybe it can also apply to the question of the way they left things following the argument scene.  They parted ways with a hug and "torqued things back" almost to the status quo, but here at BetterMost and probably in the heads of both Jack and Ennis there were concerns about the state of the relationship.  Did Jack really finally decide to quit Ennis?  What about that other fellow that Jack invited to ranch-up with him (or so Old Man Twist says...)?  Having that final postcard returned to Ennis without an answer leaves the question open of what would have happened to them next (in November would Ennis finally have taken a step towards committing to Jack?... Would Jack have broken up with Ennis?).  These will remain unresolved things in Ennis head. 

So, on this topic, the open space is about what the state of their relationship. But he knew for sure that Jack loved him desperately and he also loved Jack desperately (the shirts are concrete, visible evidence of their true love). And, what I think he tried to believe is that he would have tried to make things work with Jack if November had ever come.
 

[silkncense]

Ah yes, a very profound line in the short story.....   to me, just like "I swear", it is open to many interpretations, and I think Proulx intended it that way...

Maybe this statement, which is at its essence a statement about ambiguity as such, can relate back to all sorts of unresolved aspects of their story.

How lucky that we've all been awakened to the many possible interpretations of Annie's writing - that we are not simply left to what we 'knew'.

[stevenedel]

"Some open space" - as Mel said, what he knew and what he tried to believe didn't add up. Ennis knew that had he made different choices earlier on, things might have turned out much better than they did. What he tries to believe is, well, "two men living together, no way" - he tries to believe that it couldn't have been any other way, no matter what. Put differently, he knew the problem could have been fixed, but he tries to believe his only option was to stand it.

Just my take on that sentence, which remains heart-wrenching regardless how you interpret it (and probably, because it can be interpreted in so many different ways).

[dly64]

Hi Mel -

You can blame Jake_Twist (Jane) for getting me on to this thread. She brought this to my attention and I find this thread really interesting.

I've focussed my understanding narrowly and a little bit differently from what I've read above, not really looking at in relation to the manner of Jack's death. I wish I had the story in front of me, but I never carry it with me to work, so here's my reading:

What Ennis knew, thanks to old man Twist, was that shortly before Jack died he had been talking about bringing someone other than Ennis up to Lightning Flat.

What Ennis tried to believe, since the shirts were still in the closet, was that Jack had not quit him and still loved him.

But Jack was dead, he could never really know, so he had to stand it. Poor Ennis. ... 

Jeff - you and I see eye to eye in many ways. I think I see your viewpoint as similar to mine. This just expands your thought a little further ….

The screenplay mentions that "Ennis looks out the window, at the great bleakness of the vast northern plains."  To me, this symbolizes Ennis’ life without Jack. Ennis has lost the one man he loved. The only person he will ever love. His life is like the "bleak plain" ... colorless, empty. When he was with Jack, their love was like the mountain … high, beautiful, pure. With Jack (in the mountains) Ennis could be invisible … he could be himself without any societal constraints and probing eyes. Below … he was “nothing … nowhere ....” 

[Jeff Wrangler]

The screenplay mentions that "Ennis looks out the window, at the great bleakness of the vast northern plains."  To me, this symbolizes Ennis’ life without Jack. Ennis has lost the one man he loved. The only person he will ever love. His life is like the "bleak plain" ... colorless, empty. When he was with Jack, their love was like the mountain … high, beautiful, pure. With Jack (in the mountains) Ennis could be invisible … he could be himself without any societal constraints and probing eyes. Below … he was “nothing … nowhere ....” 

Tell you what, I may be alone in this, but I have a problem with that final shot out the window of Ennis's trailer--well, actually I don't. What I'm saying is, for me that shot as we see it doesn't go with what the screenplay says about "the great bleakness of the vast northern plains."

Why? Whatever that green stuff is that we see blowin' in the wind across the road from Ennis's trailer, whether it be some type of grain or just some kind of tall prairie grass, still, it's green, it's alive, it's growing. For me that's a hopeful image. For bleakness I require brown, dried, dead vegetation.

I'm supposing that combined with/coming after Ennis's about-face agreement to go to Alma, Jr.,'s wedding, that final shot of the living, growing vegetation contributed to why I always left the theater feeling uplifted and hopeful. So if that final shot is intended to convey bleakness and despair, it doesn't work for me.