No one seems to have specifically addressed the "punch" that Ennis delivers to Jack after he accidentally gets a bloody lip. I know the story alludes to the fact in this way;
Jack went on, “Yeah, that little punch a yours surprised me. I never figured you to throw a dirty punch.”
Ennis replies:
“I come up under my brother K.E., three years older’n me, slugged me silly ever day. Dad got tired a me come bawlin in the house and when I was about six he set me down and says, Ennis, you got a problem and you got a fix it or it’s goin a be with you until you’re ninety and K.E.’s ninety-three. Well, I says, he’s bigger’n me. Dad says, You got a take him unawares, don’t say nothin to him, make him feel some pain, get out fast and keep doin it until he takes the message. Nothin like hurtin somebody to make him hear good. So I did. I got him in the outhouse, jumped him on the stairs, come over to his pillow in the night while he was sleepin and pasted him damn good. Took about two days. Never had trouble with K.E. since. The lesson was, Don’t say nothin and get it over with quick.”
My question is....did Ennis really punch Jack because he was "sore" about getting the bloody lip? Or was it his way of getting out his anger about having to leave Jack? But what really broke my heart in the scene is seeing Jack trying so hard to comfort Ennis , trying to put his arm around him, getting knocked to the ground with a punch, lying there and having Ennis just look at him....we obviously don't see what happens after that until they are coming down the hill but it seems incredibly cruel even for Ennis...I think THIS is one of the saddest parts of the films.....what does everyone else think?
