Author Topic: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17  (Read 84368 times)

Offline nakymaton

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #110 on: February 10, 2007, 12:12:22 am »
Now that you mention it, Mel, I have this vague memory from American History that west of the Hundredth Meridian was once considered "The Great American Desert," that is, you couldn't farm west of that line? Does that sound familiar?

*digs out copy of Cadillac Desert* Yes, that's right. Rainfall east of the Hundredth Meridian is generally more than 20 inches per year, and west of the Hundredth Meridian (until you cross the Sierras or the Cascades) it is generally less. In the arid parts of the West, the Homestead Act's 160 acre allotments were generally too dry to farm and too small to graze ("...in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana - to pick three of the colder and drier states - there was not a single quarter section on which a farmer could subsist, even with luck, without irrigation, because an unirrigated quarter section was enough land for about five cows.")

I can't find a reference to the types of crops that can be grown at different levels of rainfall. There is some corn grown out here, but I think it's grown in smaller, irrigated areas, and it's grown for people to eat. It's not like Iowa, where it rains and you can grow thousands of acres of feed corn.

I bet Annie Proulx's Red Desert book will talk about some of this history, too.
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Offline Ellemeno

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #111 on: February 10, 2007, 01:58:24 am »
Yes, and did you notice the placement of the different elements, Jeff and Katherine: the brown dirt is on the bottom, the green corn (or whatever) in the middle, and the blue sky on top--on top, Jeff! Why do you think the director had the location manager arrange them that way??   :laugh:





It feels good to laugh (lovingly) at ourselves.  :)  Thanks, Lee.

Offline Cameron

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #112 on: February 10, 2007, 10:34:08 am »
I watched again last night and I was thinking how truly pathetic Ennis looked inside the trailer at the end.  Here was a person who was meant for big, wide, open spaces, like the times he looked most at peace with himself was outside with the horses and the woods and mountains.

So then at the end he was in the cramped, claustrophobic trailer, with the small window of his true world far off in the distance.

And I was thinking was the trailer meant to be the prison that his life had become, with the window showing the world that he no longer had or could have.?

Or was the window with the outdoors meant to represent hope for him, and the world that he was to return to?

Unfortunatly I tend to think that the trailer was his prison, and the world of meadows, forests and streams and elks and bears becoming more and more unobtainable to him and everyone.



Offline nakymaton

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #113 on: February 10, 2007, 10:52:28 am »
Unfortunatly I tend to think that the trailer was his prison, and the world of meadows, forests and streams and elks and bears becoming more and more unobtainable to him and everyone.

Hmmm. But he's in a trailer by himself, with a view of open spaces around him. Yes, he's in the part of Wyoming where people live rather than high up in the mountains, but people are only visitors in the National Forest land anyway -- that's part of why it's appealing, I think, and part of why his relationship with Jack was able to flourish up there - because it wasn't part of his ordinary world.

Do you know what a true trailer-prison would look like to me? Looking out the window and seeing another trailer, and another, and another. (I'm picturing the post-Hurricane Katrina trailer parks shown in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke, but I'm also picturing every trailer park I've ever seen.) Or a trailer park in small-town sprawl, with a gigantic Wal-mart parking lot in place of the field. THAT would be hell. No Jack, no nature, and still bone-crushing poverty.

Ennis is just in purgatory.
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Offline Cameron

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #114 on: February 10, 2007, 11:21:14 am »
So true!!

It could be worse for Ennis if he didn't have the open space beyond the window.

Although it is so sad and scary that some want to do away with the protections for the land even the parks and forests, so that open space may not be there for long.

And yes, to me anything having to do with Wmart is true hell, I won't set foot in those places.

So I do agree, it could have been worse for Ennis, but still he does look out of place in the traier.



Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #115 on: February 10, 2007, 11:45:43 am »
Do you know what a true trailer-prison would look like to me? Looking out the window and seeing another trailer, and another, and another. (I'm picturing the post-Hurricane Katrina trailer parks shown in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke, but I'm also picturing every trailer park I've ever seen.) Or a trailer park in small-town sprawl, with a gigantic Wal-mart parking lot in place of the field. THAT would be hell. No Jack, no nature, and still bone-crushing poverty.

Ennis is just in purgatory.

A lot of guys in Wyoming live like this now. Because of the energy boom, there are huge mancamps where men live in trailers or concrete barracks and work 12- or 18-hr days. When they do get time off, there is nothing to do but carouse or watch TV. There was an article about this in the Feb. 5 New Yorker...I realize that I am telling you what you already know better than me...but it bears repeating in light of the mailbox and the No. 17. I doubt if many of those roughnecks have a reason to put up a mailbox. How many people are living with only the memory of experiencing love, maybe not even with that??
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #116 on: February 10, 2007, 02:23:00 pm »
*digs out copy of Cadillac Desert*

I bet Annie Proulx's Red Desert book will talk about some of this history, too.

I'll have to watch for Annie's book. Thanks for the little history refresher, Mel. Been a long time since I last read anything about the Homestead Act ("Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm!"  ;D ).

A lot of guys in Wyoming live like this now. Because of the energy boom, there are huge mancamps where men live in trailers or concrete barracks and work 12- or 18-hr days. When they do get time off, there is nothing to do but carouse or watch TV. There was an article about this in the Feb. 5 New Yorker.

I remember reading that in the article. Sounded like a pretty dreadful way to have to live. Like, well, a prison.  :(
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Offline HerrKaiser

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #117 on: February 10, 2007, 04:12:41 pm »
it is a different way to live versus what many may be used to, but like anything that is different, it need not be considered inferior.

the living situations for work -related 'tours of duty' are actually, in many ways, fulfilling. years ago, we did 6 months in Baku to work the oil business, several weeks off, then back. the on-location conditions made working an easy focus, productive, and work/non work was nicely integrated. This was similar to the period of constructing the Alaska pipeline.

Ennis was perfectly comfortable in such a situation. "don't have nothin'...don't need nothin'..." His heart was full of core values and love for his man, his children, and his memories.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #118 on: February 10, 2007, 04:49:29 pm »
Lynn posted an excerpt from the book in her forum today. Looks like it will be published soon!
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Offline Lynne

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Re: P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17
« Reply #119 on: February 10, 2007, 04:54:18 pm »
Lynn posted an excerpt from the book in her forum today. Looks like it will be published soon!

I think this is the link Lee's referencing:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,9.msg153790.html#msg153790

Thanks, Lee!
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