I just read these two pages of this thread (came from the link in the Newsletter) - I hadn't noticed it before. Excellent words posted here, and lots that makes me feel so sad. And the very revealing bit of Ennis dialogue that was in the script but not the movie - that starts me thinking even more...
So many of these threads intertwine, when we're talking about how they were seeing each other, or who really had the power, or here, did they feel "short changed" by how things ended up in their lives, individually and together. Odd that in those "simpler" times, and realtively "simple" people, compared to our insane lives these days where we know too much because of just the barrage of information...that they were so complicated. Wel, that's because who they were wasn't accepted at the time. So in a big huge sense, they were so short-changed by society at the time. Weren't given the chance to see how they might have worked things out.
There is one aspect of this subject that I relate to, and that was brought up earlier -- about Ennis's simple life and his dead-end jobs, and Jack's relative wealth and an easier life. This is a significant disparity that I think sometimes we tend to dismiss. I hav a lot of ideas, but I think this is for another thread. More later.
kathy


That you are fair or wise is vain,
Or strong, or rich, or generous;
You must have also the untaught strain
That sheds beauty on the rose.
There is a melody born of melody,
Which melts the world into a sea.
Toil could never compass it,
Art its height could never hit,
It came never out of wit,
But a music music-born
Well may Jove and Juno scorn.
Thy beauty, if it lack the fire
Which drives me mad with sweet desire,
What boots it? what the soldier's mail,
Unless he conquer and prevail?
What all the goods thy pride which lift,
If thou pine for another's gift?
Alas! that one is born in blight,
Victim of perpetual slight;—
When thou lookest in his face,
Thy heart saith, Brother! go thy ways!
None shall ask thee what thou doest,
Or care a rush for what thou knowest,
Or listen when thou repliest,
Or remember where thou liest,
Or how thy supper is sodden,—
And another is born
To make the sun forgotten.
Surely he carries a talisman
Under his tongue;
Broad are his shoulders, and strong,
And his eye is scornful,
Threatening, and young.
I hold it of little matter,
Whether your jewel be of pure water,
A rose diamond or a white,—
But whether it dazzle me with light.
I care not how you are drest,
In the coar sest, or in the best,
Nor whether your name is base or brave,
Nor tor the fashion of your behavior,—
But whether you charm me,
Bid my bread feed, and my fire warm me,
And dress up nature in your favor.
One thing is forever good,
That one thing is success,—
Dear to the Eumenides,
And to all the heavenly brood.
Who bides at home, nor looks abroad,
Carries the eagles, and masters the sword.
(Emerson)