Character Analysis of Ennis Del Mar

[janjo]

You two are enough to put one off one's supper!

[garyd]

Sink peeing is a practical matter: you don't have to leave the kitchen to pee, and - if you're agile and accurate - you can pee and reheat your coffee at the same time.  Truly a time-saving procedure, multi-tasking before there was a popular name for it.  Plus, you don't have to walk all the way to the bathroom.

Do you ever dream about peeing in the sink?
I do.
I wonder what it means?

For me it seems to be one of those ubiquitous dreams we all have about
it being the end of term and never having been to class, or having to go
on stage not knowing one's lines.

I wonder if Ennis had similar dreams?

[fofol]

   I don't know about his dreams, at least not while he was still living in the trailer, but he did have the one essential requirement for sink-peeing:  he was tall enough.


    *** Not being an expert (or even an amateur) in sink-peeing, I do know somewhat about dreams: sink peeing dreams fall mainly into one of two classifications.  The first relates to a concern of wasting one's resources - there is little distance between peeing down the sink and peeing into the snow, or the river, or the jungle - and the second (more common in the developed countries) is more protective: maintaining one's resources, or privacy - my sink, my pee, let no one take advantage of me, or know what I am up to.

[Dal]

  I don't know about his dreams, at least not while he was still living in the trailer, but he did have the one essential requirement for sink-peeing:  he was tall enough.

And though he was never a sophomore, he knows that, particularly in Wyoming, a man ought not stand outside and pee into the wind.

[royandronnie]

You don't spit into it, either. Or tug on Superman's cape.

[fofol]

  I don't know about his dreams, at least not while he was still living in the trailer, but he did have the one essential requirement for sink-peeing:  he was tall enough.

And though he was never a sophomore, he knows that, particularly in Wyoming, a man ought not stand outside and pee into the wind.

    ...certainly not with a screaming krumholz to contend with.

[fofol]

... and so we come to the conclusion that Ennis was homosexual in orientation; that he was emotionally crippled by his father; and that these two, independent and discrete conditions resulted in the not-unique-enough-by-a-long-shot situation of a 19 y.o. boy/man who didn't know who he was, sexually or emotionally, but who fell in love with another boy around his own age anyway, despite these facts of his life.

[Dal]

^^^^^^

Awestruck!  After only 4 years and 250 pages, we managed to understand all that!   Aquinas got nothin on us.

But it can't be correct.  It's way too simple and likely, and consistent with what I know.  Something is very wrong.

[fofol]

^^^^^^

Awestruck!  After only 4 years and 250 pages, we managed to understand all that!   Aquinas got nothin on us.

But it can't be correct.  It's way too simple and likely, and consistent with what I know.  Something is very wrong.

     l m f a o

[garyd]

... and so we come to the conclusion that Ennis was homosexual in orientation; that he was emotionally crippled by his father; and that these two, independent and discrete conditions resulted in the not-unique-enough-by-a-long-shot situation of a 19 y.o. boy/man who didn't know who he was, sexually or emotionally, but who fell in love with another boy around his own age anyway, despite these facts of his life.

..."the rest is silence...O,o,o,o"

Stick a fork in it, we're done.
G

[ryrycutiepie]

I love how the movie takes a stereotype and turns it on its head. Ennis is a man's man. He is the one to resist Jack initially. He is the first to get married, first to get kids, first to show his fear of what society thinks. He doesn't seem to come to a level of acceptance like Jack did.

It's obvious he has issues with the flashbacks of his childhood and his failed relationships. He fits the typical stereotype that men have trouble showing their emotions. It's obvious he loved Jack, but it's also obvious he had a hard time showing it. I'd even say he loved his wife and children, although the way he loved his wife was different than the way he loved Jack. The way he cried and said, "It's because of you that I'm like this," almost suggested that Jack was the only man he was attracted to or cared for. The way he smelled the clothes at the end was as if to validate Jack's attempts to recreate what they had on Brokeback together.

[BayCityJohn]

Welcome to the forum ryrycutiepie 

[fofol]

  When I say that Ennis finally comes to know that their 'thing' was love, that doesn't mean that Ennis didn't know he wanted to be with Jack and have sex with him, it means that he actually didn't know what to call it, other than their 'thing.'  Psychologically speaking, Ennis's emotional development ended on the day his father showed him Earl's battered corpse and laughed about it, as if the torture and murder of a neighbor was a joke.  The family were raised in the Methodist church ('My folks was Methodists'), so on top of the shock of being dragged down to see the corpse of a neighbor (as in 'Love they neighbor'), dead at the hands of sadistic murderers, his corpse left out overnight in a ditch like garbage, his father's behavior told him that going to church, learning how to behave in a 'Christian' way was obligation that was ultimately totally meaningless - minimalizing someone else's trauma is not very Christ-like, and laughing at it is anti-Christ-like.  (Children think in absolute terms: if this is what you have to do to please God, this is the way it is.)  That his father laughed also meant that not all people are created equal, that this neighbor's life meant nothing.   I'll be happy to discuss this with you at length should you so choose.

[Jane-UK]

Poor Ennis.  With his background and upbringing he was never going to find it easy to go against the grain (of either what society or even his own mind told him).  The dilemma he had was his poor heart was falling in love with Jack but everything else told him he could neither accept this or enjoy.  Never a man to be impulsive nor anyone who stood out, he simply tried to do what he thought he should.  After meeting Jack, he still married Alma, after Jack painted a future which would have tempted many, he told him life like that would be impossible.  He was never going to be a man who brought about change. 

He sees threat against him or his family and reacts with violence. He does not have the communication skills to deal with his anger in any way but to lash out, famously after Alma reveals she knows about him and Jack.  The only time he let his heart be triumphant was the reunion. What a joy that scene is, to see him totally out of character and dominated by love and not fear.  If only he could have reached deep into those reserves more often, particularly when Jake told him at their last meeting that he couldn't live without him.

His lasting emotion was regret for what should have been.  All of this portrayed effortlessly by Heath Ledger - an absolute masterclass in acting which will probably never be bettered - and summed up beautifully in the final scenes with the shirts.  Simply one of the most powerful examples of the power of love. 

[morrobay]

Poor Ennis.  With his background and upbringing he was never going to find it easy to go against the grain (of either what society or even his own mind told him).  The dilemma he had was his poor heart was falling in love with Jack but everything else told him he could neither accept this or enjoy.  Never a man to be impulsive nor anyone who stood out, he simply tried to do what he thought he should.  After meeting Jack, he still married Alma, after Jack painted a future which would have tempted many, he told him life like that would be impossible.  He was never going to be a man who brought about change.  

He sees threat against him or his family and reacts with violence. He does not have the communication skills to deal with his anger in any way but to lash out, famously after Alma reveals she knows about him and Jack.  The only time he let his heart be triumphant was the reunion. What a joy that scene is, to see him totally out of character and dominated by love and not fear.  If only he could have reached deep into those reserves more often, particularly when Jake told him at their last meeting that he couldn't live without him.

His lasting emotion was regret for what should have been.  All of this portrayed effortlessly by Heath Ledger - an absolute masterclass in acting which will probably never be bettered - and summed up beautifully in the final scenes with the shirts.  Simply one of the most powerful examples of the power of love.  

It's so good, in a way, to relive this story through new eyes...I love the way you put that (bold)

It's also difficult to relive it...it brings back all the sorrow of the first time...but that's ok