Yeah, Aintfoolin, that sure was spite on Old Man Twist's part to deny Ennis the ashes. He had to have known Ennis was Jack's one love, with those many years of Jack talking of bringing Ennis there to fix the place up and the two of them live together. "Ennis Del Mar...he used to say..". And he was definitely twisting the knife by telling Ennis Jack had found another man to bring there. Oh, yeah, he knew.
But we can also tell that Jack had reached a point where he didn't give a damn what his father thought. As the father grew older, and couldn't take care of the place himself, he knew he needed even Jack's regular visits, which were work visits, doing what he could for his parents. And lost his power base.
It's also posible there was a grudging love between the two. We really don't see homophobia in the old man so much as resentment of Jack's being a dreamer and having such a strong life force. Something the father may once have wanted for himself but could not have. In fact, in the scenes with him and Ennis, we see an old man full of resentment, but seemingly not directly critical of Jack's clear preference for bringing a male there, to live with.
One thing we do know - he knew about Ennis and was not going to let him have his son's ashes. Old Man Twist may well have been a rare breed-rodeo cowboy when young, bitter old man when life left him no longer able to rule the roost.
Something else. He saw the shirts. He showed no curiosity, nor surprise. Is that normal for a guest to take away a dead son's clothing? I think the mother and father had long before come to terms with Jack's love, of whatever kind it was, for Ennis, and as was the custom in those parts, said little, and knew most all.
They all had secrets. And how Jack died would also have been one of them, that they knew.
Thanx Tony , another excellent post from you . I always love them because you tend to make me either see things more clearly or in a different way and I appreciate that. Some of these characters are very complicated male and female., for instance the old man was indeed bitter, very bitter towards Jack. I can definitly see it as resentment from not realizing his own dreams whatever they may have been, gave himself away by saying Jack thought he was "too special" to rest in the family plot. Nah, truth is, HE thought Jack thought that. but why would he abuse his own child the way he did in the ss. His resentment of Jack may have started earlier than we thought,but I do agree with you that deep down inside, even he had some love for Jack somewhere, though he had a funny way of showing it.
When Jack died, he came face to face with what his resentment of who his son was. Yes, I'm saying he knew Jack was gay, knew his son wasn't bringing home pretty young girls to build a life with, but his choice was bringing home men to build a cabin and live with., Ennis, then Randall. and here was Ennis, living proof in his kitchen. Never drew a shotgun on either boys, Jack, or Ennis that we know of, but allowed both into his home, but I bet when he got riled, he had a few choice words for his gay son and Ennis. Maybe I did'nt see homophobia, but I did see frustration, bitterness and yes ,some disgust. When Jack died, I feel he felt bitter and resentmentful at Jack and Ennis but maybe a large part of it was, resentment towards himself too for so long not being able to accept his own son and his own life failures.. For all his attempts to break Jack, Jack was'nt him or like him and never became him ,though Jack turned to achohol abuse to deal with rejection. Perhaps a silent, understood , cautious, truce was reached between them over the years. Maybe they had * the talk* , you know the one I mean where between older father and older son, everything is said, yet not one complete sentence is uttered between them? It's just understood how one another feels. Who knows?, but Jack never forgot how to show unconditional love. He still went back to help him out with the ranch, but Can't say the same for the old man.
Several people knew about the *secret* including Lureen imo, but no one was gonna say anything to the point out loud. A woman does'nt stay married to a man for 20 years and never suspect his sexuality with these goings on. Believe me , I've personally been that route before. She knew.
