I am so glad you all revived this discussion. Thanks, Twisted, Cham.
Jackster, you the man!
Well the SS spells it out like this:
"Right," said Jack, and they shook hands, hit each other on the shoulder; then there was forty feet of distance between them and nothing to do but drive away in opposite directions. Within a mile Ennis felt like someone was pulling his guts out hand over hand a yard at a time. He stopped at the side of the road and, in the whirling new snow, tried to puke but nothing came up. He felt about as bad as he ever had and it took a long time for the feeling to wear off.
But if I understand your question Twisted is not so much WHAT he felt, but WHY he felt. Am I right here? Not sure he understood why himself. Said as much years later with Jack in the motel. He didn't know why he was so torn up, couldn't see it (then). But he did see it eventually, enough to even tell Jack, as you say "he shouldn't a let him outta' his sights"
Personally I don't think the gay aspect enters into yet. I don't think Ennis can see or understand that yet, but I do think he's just said "Goodbye" to the person he'd loved more and felt closer too than anyone else in his life. And there wasn't much prospect for a future get together. His punch had put a damper on things, and both boys were struggling with emotions they little understood. As we see later Ennis strikes out violently when he encounters situations he doesn't understand or can't control, I feel he's striking out at himself here. In effect he's gut punching himself (course he does punch the wall) trying to make himself conform to a reality he wants, but not the one he feels.[/i] JMHO
Ennis was lost and confused from the moment he saw Jack packing up. He sat on the hill trying to sort out his feelings with no reins but couldn't. Then Jack made it more difficult, with all the physical contact, the wrestling. The punch was out of frustration as much as anger. Ennis had no way of expressing how he felt, except through his fist.
As Jack drove away in the trust, Ennis was back to his lonely highway, long and dusty. Instead of pawing the white out of the moon, he was back to the grindstone, back to the dusty old road. Yeah, he was sick of it, because he was addicted to Jack by this point. Gut punching himself, that's clever, Jackster. I think you are right. He hated feeling being hooked, but also felt good being hooked. He was conflicted, and had to punch something.
As for Alma being afraid of Ennis, I think that's probably underplayed in the movie, and not much of it in the short story. I was shocked to see Alma's reaction, when Ennis came to the store with the two girls under his arms, and said "...I'd lose my job." Then Alma responded "What about my job?" And Ennis just simple flashed a mean look on his face before Alma submitted. I agree with you, Kathy, Atalley, that it was only a matter of time that Alma left Ennis, without or without Jack Twist.
That sure puts a different twist (no pun intended) on the question, "You ain't find anyone else to marry?"
