Book Discussion: Brokeback Mountain

[Fran]

Also, What is the "welling Plain"?

Lee, I think you meant "welling prairie." 

I think "welling" means flowing or spreading out, sort of like you'd only see prairie for miles and miles.

[loneleeb3]

Lee, I think you meant "welling prairie." 

I think "welling" means flowing or spreading out, sort of like you'd only see prairie for miles and miles.

Thats it!
Thank you!

[moremojo]

Hey guys, I don't remember the term/phrase "welling praririe" in the short story. Could someone cite the spot where it occurs? I do remember the use of "the grieving plain", which is how Ennis sees the land in which Jack's father will inter his son's ashes.

[southendmd]

"... a tiny fenced square on the welling prairie."

It's after Ennis leaves the Twist ranch.  He didn't want to think of Jack amongst the plastic flowers and such.

[ifyoucantfixit]

    This entire section is only one paragraph.
   Bumping down the washboard road Ennis  passed the country cemetary fenced with sagging sheep wire, a tiny fenced square on the welling prairie, a few graves bright with plastic flowers, and didn't want to know Jack was going in there, to be buried on the grieving plain.

[moremojo]

Thanks, guys! Interesting how "the grieving plain" really stood out for me in that paragraph, but "welling prairie" slipped my mind.

[Front-Ranger]

This story discussion has a new home on the Open Forum. We are discussing distinctive phrases used in the story, and also the use of color in the story right now.

[Front-Ranger]

I can't believe how often I use the phrase "rusty but still usable." In the story, this described another phrase "Time to hit the hay." And to tie it all together, LaShawn used the phrase "chewing gum and baling wire." But that last one wasn't in the book, in fact LaShawn wasn't in the book at all!!

But baling wire is used to bind hay in the process of harvesting it.

[moremojo]

But that last one wasn't in the book, in fact LaShawn wasn't in the book at all!!

True, except if one counts Jack's reference to the ranch foreman's wife, much in the same way that Cassie can be retroactively inferred from Ennis's reference to the waitress(?) he's been putting the blocks on(?) [geez, it's been a while since I've read the story].

[Front-Ranger]

Sure e-nuff, Scott! Isn't it amazing how Osana/McMurtry breathed life into these fleeting references in the story??

Please join me in reading the story again in preparation for the 10-year-anniversary of the publication!!