I don't think Ennis would have had any friends. I think his family would have been enough for him. I'm a loner/introvert as well, so I can understand that implicitly. My husband is my best friend, and apart from him I have maybe 4 good friends who I don't even see very often. More outgoing people would probably think, "Oh, how sad." But in fact, it doesn't bother me in the least...it's hard to get extroverts to understand that one can be perfectly content without a bunch of friends. So I doubt that Ennis even gave it a moment's thought, or that it bothered him.
Jack is obviously more outgoing, and more the type to have/want friends, but I'm not sure that he had any. I'm sure he tried to make friends, but the people around him didn't seem to like him very much. WItness the guys at the tractor shop who were sort of snickering at Jack behind his back, basically calling him a loser. ("Didn't he used to rodeo?"..."Well, he TRIED." HaHaHaHa.) The tragedy of Jack is that he just didn't seem to fit in anywhere. Then you have the rodeo clown who Jack was hitting on....I wonder who quickly rumours of Jack's orientation would have spread around where he lived. This could be another cause of men not wanting to befriend him. Anyway, I think if Jack and Lureen had friends, they would have been *Lureen's* friends and/or business associates, not really Jack's.
I think both Jack and Ennis were isolated. Ennis by choice, Jack by the meanness of people.
Hi
It just occured to me - do you think that J & E wouldve had male friends (besides each other)? I cant imagine Ennis going down the pub with the lads for a few pints somehow. I guess, in that time period, work and family would take up most people's time and leave little room for anything else.
Also, in one scene we see how Ennis is reluctant to go to the 'Church Social' with his wife so it doesnt seem as if he likes to socialise at all anyway. When they do go out to the fireworks or the cinema, they go as a family and we dont see them speak to anyone else.
Jack is obviously a lot more outgoing than Ennis - they meet Randall and his wife at the bar/restuaurant so it seems like he & Lureen would be more likely to have friends.
I don't think Ennis would have had any friends. I think his family would have been enough for him. I'm a loner/introvert as well, so I can understand that implicitly. My husband is my best friend, and apart from him I have maybe 4 good friends who I don't even see very often. More outgoing people would probably think, "Oh, how sad." But in fact, it doesn't bother me in the least...it's hard to get extroverts to understand that one can be perfectly content without a bunch of friends. So I doubt that Ennis even gave it a moment's thought, or that it bothered him.
Jack is obviously more outgoing, and more the type to have/want friends, but I'm not sure that he had any. I'm sure he tried to make friends, but the people around him didn't seem to like him very much. WItness the guys at the tractor shop who were sort of snickering at Jack behind his back, basically calling him a loser. ("Didn't he used to rodeo?"..."Well, he TRIED." HaHaHaHa.) The tragedy of Jack is that he just didn't seem to fit in anywhere. Then you have the rodeo clown who Jack was hitting on....I wonder who quickly rumours of Jack's orientation would have spread around where he lived. This could be another cause of men not wanting to befriend him. Anyway, I think if Jack and Lureen had friends, they would have been *Lureen's* friends and/or business associates, not really Jack's.
I think both Jack and Ennis were isolated. Ennis by choice, Jack by the meanness of people.
When he cheerfully approached Jimbo the rodeoclown, you can see how fast he is transforming from cheerful to lonely. He must have been feeling like an outcast. Thus he lashes out to the bartender who just after Jimbo leaves Jack at the counter wonders if Jack has ever tried calf roping", and Jack answers angrily somthing like "Do I look like I can afford a horse??", and then turns to leave.
When he cheerfully approached Jimbo the rodeoclown, you can see how fast he is transforming from cheerful to lonely. He must have been feeling like an outcast. Thus he lashes out to the bartender who just after Jimbo leaves Jack at the counter wonders if Jack has ever tried calf roping", and Jack answers angrily somthing like "Do I look like I can afford a horse??", and then turns to leave.
As I read your words above, I am suddenly struck with the possibility of a greater, deeper significance.
Why, I ask myself, would calf roping require the luxury of owning a horse. Is it because, in order to be skillful, you MUST ride your own horse, a horse which you work with daily, intimately, until the two of you become one, a team, kindred spirits. You cannot simply borrow a horse for a day, for such a performance; "a one shot thing."
A life long kindred spirit is like such a horse, a wealth and a luxury, enabling a great performance.
Ennis grew up with emotional baggage foisted upon him by a stoic upbringing. He probably does not make friends easily only due to the trust factor. But when he does it is lifelong. He treasures his friendships, guards them.
Jack could probably make more fieinds BUT he might come across as being too forward for comfort. He is probably unaware of this and thus suffers from rejection by other men who have a built in distrust of people who might seem a little peculiar/needy(?)
Ennis may not be the salesman that Jack was, he was no isolated loner. He had a friend willing to let him and Jack use the cabin. He was acquainted with Alma's boss when he went to drop off the kids. He could be social and had social graces when necessary. He was just not interested, being caught up in fantasies of Jack. After all, before the two met on Brokeback, it was Ennis who had a fiancée, not Jack. It was Ennis who managed to snag the young Cassie, while Jack, though the extrovert and social butterfly, had to go to Mexico. He wasn't too social with the rodeo clown either. We are never too sure about him and Randall in the end. Jack was all show and little substance, while Ennis was the quiet one getting the job done, with sheep and with women, and with men, too, platonically.
The reason the two got off so well together on Brokeback was because they fitted each other perfectly. The clowning yet inwardly insecure Jack enjoyed the laconic yet self-confident Ennis. The two fitted together like hand in glove, or two shirts one inside the other.