The Phone Call

[Dagonet]

I don't really think it matters.  To me the point of the passage is that it demonstrates that, even in death, Jack was unable to engineer something coming to his hand in the right way, or that he was never able to get it straight with the old man. 

In a way, though, this is actually one of the only times that Jack does get things right:  it's because of the ashes (and Jack's frustrated wishes regarding them) that Ennis shows up in Lightning Flat and discovers the shirts.  What more could Jack have wanted for Ennis, what greater gift could he have given, than that?   

And, of course, it fits rather neatly with the whole mythical (Aeneid) tone of this section of the story in that Jack ends up in a place not of his choosing, a place of grief, regret, and  unfulfillment rather than a place of perceived power and contentment.

Ummm. . .  Granted that Jack specifically requested burial on Brokeback Mountain, is that really where he belonged?  He came from Lightning Flat.  He came back to Lightning Flat, year after year after year.  And his "happily ever after" involved bringing Ennis with him to Lightning Flat.  "The grieving plain" is Ennis' assessment, remember--and given that all the light in his world went away when Jack died, I doubt he would have found anything remotely resembling peace *anywhere*, even if he'd been able to bring the ashes to Brokeback. 

Who's to say his spirit didn't find its way back up to Brokeback?
I like to think it did.

He'll be up there waiting for Ennis.

Bah.  Why would Jack's spirit bother going to Brokeback?  Nothing up there except some sheep, some shepherds, and lots and lots of coyotes.  We know exactly what Jack's spirit did because AP comes right out and tells us:  He slips into Ennis' dreams and gives him the strength to go on living.


Cheers,

Dagonet

[Ministering angel]

I think Jack's wish to have his ashes scattered on Brokeback is one of the most tragic lines in the story. It indicates a man who is  losing hope of ever being with the man he loves. If he had been able to live with Ennis I doubt he'd have cared where his ashes ended up. BBM (and its substitutes) had been the only place where they had been together. The place itself had no real significance to Jack except for that. His desire to have his ashes there is a desire to be with Ennis in death, as he wasn't in life.

That he could talk about such a thing when drunk tells me he doubted he'd ever get his heart's desire.  In vino veritas. The DE memory kept him coming back and living in hopes, but when the whiskey found its target he saw the "truth" in that maudlin fashion.

[CANSTANDIT]

and another bull's eye: Jack kind of knows before the DE, what the real truth is. He won't have Ennis, after all. Very good point!

[aussie]

Hi there!   I have read through this entire thread which has given me so much food for thought.  It has enabled me to fine tune this scene to an even better understanding.  Thank you...

The impact on Ennis of the news of Jack's accident was particularly fascinating to me.  I remember Ennis's feelings of frustration when Jack said they had been told to come down the mountain.  He kicked the ground,  ranted and raved.  Ennis wasn't worried about the money - he resented that their time (this one shot thing) had been cut short.  Ennis sat sulking when Jack tried to tease him but roping him when the play turned into a struggle then a fight.  Again Ennis's frustrations were vented via anger.

Again when they seperated for good (as it seemed then),  Ennis was walking along side the road.  He seemed to sink as he was walking and then went off the road and knelt against the wall.  He pounded the wall with anger and frustration and cried calling out Jack's name.  It was so cruel.  In the s/s Ennis made mention of this a couple of times,  saying he should never have let Jack out of his sight.  The film Ennis was more suppressed and these feelings were stronger and could only be held inwardly.  Jack had Ennis's heart and soul totally...    and you know I always thought that feeling wasn't returned fully by Jack until I saw the shirts.

When Ennis was speaking to Lureen in the telephone booth the emotion, the pain,  the admission of their connection was beautifully portrayed by Heath.  You could even get a glimpse of hope at first that Jack would answer.  Ennis's maturity in the way he handled the conversation - the young Ennis probably would've smashed the telephine booth to pieces.

[CANSTANDIT]

Hi, Aussie, interesting new perspective on Ennis's growth. Welcome!

[aussie]

Thanks for the welcome....   you know I am totally in awe of the site.  It's incredible!!!

[Ministering angel]

Hi aussie, from another Aussie! Nice point. There is nothing in the SS to bridge the two events - the argument and the phone call - but the film gives us the scene with Cassie which seems to be showing Ennis doing some serious pondering. Clearly, his ditching of Cassie is a reaction to the argument.

In the SS he wants to curse Lureen for letting Jack die on the dirt road so there is a certain amount of anger still around, albeit the anger of grief, but it's true that his fighting manner doesn't rear its head ever again that we know of. He threatens to kill Jack in that oblique way (and Jack certainly interprets it as a death threat) then he has the surge of anger in the phone call, but Mr Twist doesn't provoke an angry response.

Anger was Ennis's way of dealing with threats to his own safety, either physical, as in the attacks by his big brother, or mental, as in the questioning of his sexuality by Alma. Such a tragedy that it took Jack's death to overcome that response.

[CANSTANDIT]

As he tells Jr: If you aint got nothin, you don't need nothin. So what is left for him to get angry over, right? Good points.

[aussie]

Gidday Ministering Angel...   I wasn't trying to bridge those events,   just to compare his reactions from the first seperation (which was for all intent and purpose the last time he would be seeing Jack) to what must have been the most devistating news that Jack was deceased. 

At the end of the phone call it appeared Ennis was no where, was/had nothing   and had no one...   So when he says to Jnr: If you aint got nothin,  you don't need nothin. -  does he mean that?  he does have Jack in his dreams,  he has the shirts (tangible proof of their precious connection)

[Ministering angel]

I wasn't suggesting you were bridging the two events - that was just me thinking out loud about how we get to the phone call scene.

I wonder if "You got nothin...." is a version of "One's enough" with the postcard. Junior is referring to material goods in the final scene but Ennis no longer needs material goods - his dreams are enough. Yes, the shirts are material  but it's what they represent which is important.

I think in the film he's saying that nothing will replace Jack so why bother.

[aussie]

I see,  so that's all he needs - and -  if you can't fix it,  you gotta stand it.  Dod you thing he would ever go back to LF?

[Dagonet]

I wonder if "You got nothin...." is a version of "One's enough" with the postcard. Junior is referring to material goods in the final scene but Ennis no longer needs material goods - his dreams are enough. Yes, the shirts are material  but it's what they represent which is important.

I think in the film he's saying that nothing will replace Jack so why bother.

That sounds right to me--while Jack was alive, Ennis needed nothing more and nothing else than him.  The flip side of that would be that nothing physical or material could fill the open space left by Jack's death.


A return to Lightning Flat. . . In the short story, where the visit ends with Jack's mother coring those apples like she's carving up little hearts, I can't see any possibility of a return.  But in the film, that line "You come back and see us again," has so much layered emotion to it.  My interpretation is that she (and quite possibly Jack's father as well) would welcome Ennis' return, even as she knows there's nothing there for him to come back for.  In a weird way, Ennis might be to Jack's parents something of what the shirts were to him:  proof that their son wasn't unloved, wasn't unworthy, wasn't ever completely alone. 


Cheers,

Dagonet

[CANSTANDIT]

In the film, the mother does recognize the fact that Jack was loved; I think that was important to her.

To the father it's just the final blow in his mind, this former rodeo starlet, regarding how life had failed him, ie, giving him a son who was not up to snuff, in his mind; and then, following his son's death, the son-again in the father's mind-offers the ultimate insult by not wanting to be in LF even after his death. Then this mythical Ennis shows up, whom the father may even have thought was a lie, and actually displays genuine affection for his son-oh, the rage the old buzzard must've felt. It's all about HIM after all, isn't it?
From his pov, Jack has bested him, in terms of guerrila warfare, when all Jack wanted was some sign of his love. Another example of two men who simply did not communicate their deepest needs. And also, a case where such communication would have been, um, unwelcome on the part of Jack's dad. We know this, because Jack was, in his own way, begging for the father's esteem everytime he brought up Ennis-and he did, frequently: 'Jack used to say, 'Ennis del Mar', he used to say,..etc.". I imagine the father was just contemptuous about these yearnings in Jack....not to mention, completely ignorant.

Jack spoke of the man who loved him, to the man who gave no evidence that he loved him. His own father. Another contorted situation.

[Sandy]

Hello, aussie, and welcome to our shared obsession.

Good observations in your maiden post!

See you on the threads.

Sandy

[Ministering angel]

I see,  so that's all he needs - and -  if you can't fix it,  you gotta stand it.  Dod you thing he would ever go back to LF?

I don't know. In my more romantic moments I think he might have visited Mrs Twist. The invitation is there, after all, and she is the only person who may have an idea about Ennis's feelings. IOW he is not entirely alone in the world. I think it's something he could have done once he worked his way through the initial stages of grief. He would have to have reached a state of some acceptance before he did, however. JMHO. To face the stud duck agaian would take quite an amount of courage.