The Phone Call

[BayCityJohn]

Also, in the script I believe it says  "So now he knows, and we know it was the tire iron"

[janjo]

But we don't. We only know what we are told.

[fofol]

   Since the story is imbedded in destructive rural homophobia, and Ennis knows what the good people of Sage did to a known homosexual, it is not a big leap of faith for someone of his experience to strongly suspect that Jack was got by the tire irons.
   Since the author (or was it one of the writers?) along with Anne Hathaway (the actress who plays Lureen) tell us that Lureen was lying (?? Story to Screenplay?), the safest money says that Jack got the tire irons.  That said, the story from the start demands that we each bring our own experience and perspective to it.  Having lived in Texas for a year and a half, I can tell you that homophobia there was mostly a spectator sport, with only very rare legal ramifications for its proactive proponents. 

   Respectfully submitted.

[royandronnie]

There are several very good reasons for deciding Jack was murdered. And, usually, that's what I believe. But, that ol' debbil Annie made sure that here, as elsewhere, we are left with open space between what we "know" and what we "want to believe." I think Canstandit suggested that Annie slipping in that word "accident" is meant to tell us it really was; also, there's the reference to Ennis being able to hear the tire rim hitting bone in his mind. Later, of course, with OMT's revelation, he's confirmed in his first idea: tire iron.

Most likely, that's what happened. It was, after all, incontestably what happened to Earl. That's one of the few unambiguous events in the story. There would be, however, a bitter irony in Jack's death being for Ennis a self-fulfilling prophecy: two men together=tire iron--but in fact it was an accident, only in Ennis' mind he torments himself with the idea of gay-bashing, closing the circle of homophobia for another generation, and they could have lived together without being killed.

I do wonder at the use of "accident." Why not "Jack's death?" I think she's just yanking our chains. It just makes so much more sense, given the context of tragedy, that Jack goes home from the argument fatalistically depressed and does something that gets him killed. It's almost Romeo and Juliet: just when Ennis shows signs of finally coming around, Jack has gotten the wrong kind of notice and been killed, because he'd given up on Ennis.

The story works as being about homophobia in both ways. If it was an accident, then Ennis reinforces his own prison bars by deciding it was not; in a sense, it then becomes gay-bashing, even if it wasn't, because Ennis knuckles under to his belief that a man like him cannot be allowed to be happy because he'll be killed.

But I like Occam's Razor, and in this case, it says "Jack either quit, and was too overt with the ranch neighbor, or was so depressed that he didn't care who saw him with the ranch neighbor. And they killed him." Because that's ironic too: Ennis, who feared gay-bashing all his life, still lives, while Jack, who accepted his sexuality and was prepared to dare for it, died. And I find that rather more bitter.

[tonydude]

  I'd have to check the SS, but in the film, the sing-song description of the death by Lureen, spoke more to a cover-up of a family scandal, carefully rehearsed, than to an accident.  There was more to her coldness than just dealing with an unexpected call.
  IMO, she had loved him, in her own vague way. Her tone spoke less of grief than of some other shock.  Anne Hathaway was pressed on Oprah, as to whether she played the role as having known her husband had same-gender inclinations; she finally conceded that, in this scene, she did.

[janjo]

There are several very good reasons for deciding Jack was murdered. And, usually, that's what I believe. But, that ol' debbil Annie made sure that here, as elsewhere, we are left with open space between what we "know" and what we "want to believe." I think Canstandit suggested that Annie slipping in that word "accident" is meant to tell us it really was; also, there's the reference to Ennis being able to hear the tire rim hitting bone in his mind. Later, of course, with OMT's revelation, he's confirmed in his first idea: tire iron.

Most likely, that's what happened. It was, after all, incontestably what happened to Earl. That's one of the few unambiguous events in the story. There would be, however, a bitter irony in Jack's death being for Ennis a self-fulfilling prophecy: two men together=tire iron--but in fact it was an accident, only in Ennis' mind he torments himself with the idea of gay-bashing, closing the circle of homophobia for another generation, and they could have lived together without being killed.

I do wonder at the use of "accident." Why not "Jack's death?" I think she's just yanking our chains. It just makes so much more sense, given the context of tragedy, that Jack goes home from the argument fatalistically depressed and does something that gets him killed. It's almost Romeo and Juliet: just when Ennis shows signs of finally coming around, Jack has gotten the wrong kind of notice and been killed, because he'd given up on Ennis.

The story works as being about homophobia in both ways. If it was an accident, then Ennis reinforces his own prison bars by deciding it was not; in a sense, it then becomes gay-bashing, even if it wasn't, because Ennis knuckles under to his belief that a man like him cannot be allowed to be happy because he'll be killed.

But I like Occam's Razor, and in this case, it says "Jack either quit, and was too overt with the ranch neighbor, or was so depressed that he didn't care who saw him with the ranch neighbor. And they killed him." Because that's ironic too: Ennis, who feared gay-bashing all his life, still lives, while Jack, who accepted his sexuality and was prepared to dare for it, died. And I find that rather more bitter.

Excellent, Charlotte.

[Cally]

It's interesting that we (and I) can accept Ennis's narration of what he knows happened to Rich and Earl (we only have his word for it), but I cannot accept that what E knows about the tire iron is the incontrovertible truth. I see ambiguity, and my inclination is that it was an accident, but that we will never know for certain.

[tonydude]

  FWIW, on another forum, one usually well-informed member wrote that the alleged accident, itself, was highly improbable.  The logistics of being struck that way while changing a tire were unlikely.  Although my own wariness of just the jacks, when changing a tire made me not-so-sure, on the whole general subject, she was very persuasive in her post. Dangerous as jacks are, the really strange timing of a tire blowing up and knocking the rim into someone's face did seem far-fetched. Then, as sometimes happens, the news itself catches up with us.  Someone in Texas (!) died exactly the same way as Jack Twist supposedly did within, if I recall correctly, a month of her post.
   Which deflated, somewhat, the lady's use of improbability as proof of a cover-up.  The basic yes or no still remains.

[janjo]

I suspect strongly that it is meant to be so.

[tonydude]

 I do, as well.

[Dal]

 FWIW, on another forum, one usually well-informed member wrote that the alleged accident, itself, was highly improbable.  The logistics of being struck that way while changing a tire were unlikely.  Although my own wariness of just the jacks, when changing a tire made me not-so-sure, on the whole general subject, she was very persuasive in her post. Dangerous as jacks are, the really strange timing of a tire blowing up and knocking the rim into someone's face did seem far-fetched. Then, as sometimes happens, the news itself catches up with us.  Someone in Texas (!) died exactly the same way as Jack Twist supposedly did within, if I recall correctly, a month of her post.
   Which deflated, somewhat, the lady's use of improbability as proof of a cover-up.  The basic yes or no still remains.

The jack was not the cause of the accident (if any):  it was the bead.  Worn or defective tire beads are a rather common cause of injury, when they give  way during inflation or re-inflation, and the abrupt decompression sends metal parts (rim etc) fast enough to break skulls etc.  Here's one abstract from Orthopedics ;  easy to find more of the same, plus YouTube vids, lawsuits, you name it.  These explosions can happen with any size vehicle.

Nothing can prove what happened to Jack, of course.  Just wanted to point out that bead explosions are not very exotic animals at all (and that a bead is not a jack!)

***************

Orthopedics. 1989 Jan;12(1):123-8.
Tire explosion injuries.

Teasdall RD, Aiken MA, Freeland AE, Hughes JL.

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson.
Abstract

Twenty-five patients hospitalized with injuries sustained from tire explosions from 1980 to 1987 were reviewed. Injuries occurred directly from the tire rim or parts of its assembly, from the patient being thrown against adjacent unyielding structures, or a combination of these. Lethal or life-threatening injuries do occur, so these patients initially must be triaged as polytrauma patients. Resuscitation and expeditious attention to life-threatening injuries must be provided when necessary. Serious head, facial, eye, and upper extremity injuries occurred frequently. Pelvic and long-bone fractures, particularly those of the femur, are stabilized primarily as part of the overall treatment of the polytraumatized patient. Open fractures and fractures with arterial injuries and/or compartment syndromes are primarily decompressed, debrided, and appropriately stabilized. After life-threatening and limb-threatening injuries are attended, eye injuries that threaten sight should be addressed. While hand, wrist, and other upper extremity injuries that do not fall in the above categories may not require immediate or primary treatment, they are often critical in determining the patient's final outcome. This is particularly true since most patients are manual workers, often mechanics. Therefore, hand, wrist, and upper extremity injuries should be treated as early as possible and in parallel with other injuries to achieve optimal results and minimize impairment, disability, and time and economic loss from work. Strong emphasis should be placed on education and safety training in preventing this severe form of civilian trauma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 2915941 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Paul029]

But he didn't know anything. He only knows what we know, which is what Lureen says happened, and Ennis has to believe it was the "tyre iron" because it justifies his behaviour over the past twenty years.
If it is really what happened it is a little too "pat" really.

I agree that “murder by tyre iron” is a little too neat, Jess. 

Ennis doesn’t just “know what we know,” though—he "knows" only what he’s told.

But, Ennis being Ennis, he "knows" better.
There’s nothing she could have said which would have made him think it was an accident.

Although film Lureen’s delivery is “true” to Proulx’s description of SS Lureen’s telephone delivery, she does more (as far as audience perception is concerned) than is described in the book simply by her realisation through visual images.

That she may be dissembling is more overt in the film than it is the book.

Having said all that I think it is each one of us to decide.

Even if Proulx states that it was an accident?

(Just my 2¢ worth.)

[janjo]

Yes, really.

The description Lureen gives of Jack's death is so detailed that it  is hard to imagine anyone inventing it, but she does relate it in such a cold way that there is room for at least some doubt.
The balancing argument is that gay men were bashed, battered, and murdered in that place and at that time, and there is enough information given for us to conclude that Jack was seeing someone in Texas, and this is enough to have caused enough rumour and innuendo, that he might have been gay bashed to death.

It is a balance of probabilities, and is up to us to decide.

[kathy]

   Hi janjo --

I know I've said it before, but...
That tiny little ice cold voice of Lureen's, when Ennis calls to see "what happened" to Jack, reads/sounds like a woman who has rehearsed, memorized, and told the "accident story" so many times, it is now like she's reading it from a textbook or prepared script. 
Never have I thought it otherwise.  It was the tire iron.   

kathy   


 

[janjo]

But, how would she have thought out all of the details of that bizarre, but not unknown, accident?

Ennis can't "know" it was the tyre iron, he hasn't ever met Lureen, he hasn't ever been to Texas. All sorts of things may be going on he doesen't know about. It could well have been a tyre iron, or some other metaphorical gay bashing, but Ennis can't "know" that.
He can strongly suspect it, but he can't know it.
Also why does Jack have to die in exactly the same way as Earl?
Exactly in the way Ennis has always feared?