Topic: What was it about Ennis?

[tpe]

I just love how contradictory and inconsistent Ennis is.  The same way I love Jack being a dreamer and all.  Both of them can be termed "losers", but they embody so many of our own failings that we readily empathize with their shortcomings and inconsistencies.

Yes,you're awfully right too ¡  He was an enigma to himself,the same than IMO sometimes he hated himself for being and feeling like he did.Too many questions without answer,too many inner struggles,too any contradictions...Doubtless,this duality creates in us also some dual feelings.

[Forever]

Yeah, it's definitely no surprise that Ennis was a virgin. From his upbringing, it is clear that he wouldn't have had pre-marital sex. He was someone who played by the rules because that's what was expected of him, so of course he was a virgin. As for his attraction to other guys...I believe it was something he knew about himself, but of kept hidden. Ennis knew he was different, that he didn't fit into the society he lived in...but he just had to live the life that was expected of him. When he met Jack, for the first time in his life, someone understood him and he felt free to be who he really was. The wall he'd built around himself came down. Deep down inside, Ennis was a romantic idealist, but he thought he would never actually find true love because his society would never allow him and the circumstances would never be right or he would never meet the right person. And then when he least expected...along came Jack, and true love had arrived and found Ennis. The isolated setting of Brokeback Mountain made it the perfect place for both of them to be free and happy. Had Ennis never met Jack, he would have just lived a discontented life, convincing himself that he loved Alma. After he met Jack, Ennis knew he'd found his one true love, and that was Jack. He knew that he could never fool himself again, but he felt like a prisoner because he had to go back and marry Alma and do what society expected him to. So that's what he did, because he felt like he had no choice, he was scared that he'd end up like Earl if he did what he really wanted to do, if he was really true to himself, and that was to be with Jack. Jack was in a similar situation...although he was less afraid than Ennis. He knew society wouldn't accept him, but he wasn't going to let fear stop him from being with his one true love, Ennis. As to the question of whether or not Jack was a virgin...there's really no evidence that he wasn't. Jack, of course was attracted to other guys, and like Ennis, he had known it for quite some time, but he lived in the same type of society as Ennis, so he too must have kept it hidden. I think the only reason Jack seemed more "experienced" than Ennis, was simply because Jack was a lot more outgoing than Ennis, and didn't have the quiet, introverted personality that Ennis had. I don't really think Jack had had any romantic relationship with anyone before, but him being the outgoing personality, he just initiated it because the wall Ennis had built around himself wasn't going to come down by itself, only someone like Jack, with those particular qualities, and that personality could free Ennis. It's clear to me that they both saw each other, and liked each other from the beginning, and from the beginning knew it was something epic, something true, something deep that neither one had felt before. From the beginning they knew they had found true love. Jack showed Ennis what happiness was, and from then on, Ennis knew that Jack was the only person he needed. That's why Ennis was emotionally distraught and physically sick when they parted ways. Now that he had found his one true love, he didn't know how he was going to go back to the life that was expected of him. He didn't know how he could endure that prison and those chains, after experiencing freedom and happiness with Jack on Brokeback Mountain. He didn't know how he was going to live a single day without Jack, but he felt there was nothing he could do about, so he just had to endure it. Jack felt the same way, but unlike Ennis, Jack believed he could do something about it, that he didn't have to endure it, that he could be with Ennis no matter what, because their love was so true and strong that they would find a way against all odds that society stacked up against them. I wish they had never parted ways and they had remained together since that first summer on Brokeback Mountain...it would have been both Ennis' and Jack's dream come true. If society had been different, Ennis wouldn't have been afraid.  It would have been heaven for them if society hadn't been cruel and ignorant, they would have always been together, and been free and happy. No chains, no suffering, no regrets, no sorrow.

Of all the post that I have read about Ennis & Jack concerning their love and relationship, this is the most beautiful and powerful one, thank you Athena for those beautiful lines!

[Borealis]

Ennis

About the wolf's balls with the size of apples: I always wondered what Ennis really expresses by saying this, because in reality the size of the balls of a wolf or any other predator for that matter is rather small. It is possible that he never shot the wolf, but makes up the whole story. If he actually shot the wolf, he exaggerates a lot about the size of its balls. Anyway, it's obvious that his mind is occupied with the male organ at this moment. He signals an interest here, maybe unconsciously. I think so. Agree?

Best regards

[haveacrush]

Looking at Ennis I tend to believe Alma, Cassie and Jack each saw him as a person who was hard to approach.  We never saw his pre-BBM relationship with Alma.  I have to assume he didn't have a lot to say to her at first. Jack and Cassie both had to initiate conversation and dig up what social skills Ennis possessed.  Once Ennis let his guard down, they could all see that there was a lovable person under Ennis's exterior. All three characters fell for him...and hard.  In the end it was Jack who gained a complete grip on Ennis's heart.

cant agree more  .. he was intriguing, hard to approach, mysterious and at the same time yes attractive ... so may be these people were interested in discovering what lies beneath the stoic exterior .. and we know that when he lets his guard down ennis DO has a soft vulnerable side ... and HE IS INTENSE ... in short he has the X factor that not only attracts but attracts in a serious way
its the same reason why so many brokies in the forum would agree they have fallen for him 

[mexico?]

yes they were intrigued ... handsome man who keeps quiet and sometimes steals glances then opens up when you really try

[bluemountainsky]

I think I can relate to this a lot. I went through a period in my life where someone very special came along, but I was too busy asking myself what does he see in me to really understand the depth of what he felt for me. I believe Ennis always wondered himself what it was about him. Why does Jack see in him? Why it is so special about him that Jack is so interested? Ennis had low self-esteem and a lot of self-doubt. It was very difficult for him to understand why people were attracted to him, why they loved him. It is common for people have gone through bad childhoods and never felt loved. It makes a person feel that they aren't worthy of being loved. Ennis got to experience what most people never do, true love, but he didn't understand till the end that yes he was worthy of being loved. Sometimes I feel that Jack should have just come right out and said. "Ennis, yes, it's love. I love you, and I want you and only you. And I wish you'd realize how special you are." Jack saying "You have no idea how bad it gets, I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.", was pretty much the same thing as saying that.

 I wish Jack didn't feel like he had to walk on eggshells with Ennis. Ennis needed a wake-up call to show him how much he was loved, and unfortunately the wake-up call was Jack's death, and the discovery of the shirts, and Jack's mother's kindness. What was it about Ennis? Well, I bet Jack could come up with a long list. From the moment he saw him, he wanted him. The way he looks at him is clear. He wanted to know more about Ennis, he wanted to truly know him in an intimate way. He approached Ennis in a manner in which no one had before. He genuinely was concerned about him, treated him like he was worthy. All his life, people never really bothered getting to know Ennis. They formed their own opinions about him based on the exterior they saw. They thought Ennis was simple, or that Ennis was stoic, or that Ennis was quiet, all judgments made about him. But then Jack came along, and he saw something else. Just because Ennis wasn't saying anything, he didn't make an assumption about his personality. I can speak from experience being an introvert myself. A lot of times people have made an assumption based on being around for a short time. That I'm quiet, don't want to be bothered, too shy, etc. But one day someone like Jack didn't do that, he took the time to actually talk to me and want to know more, to want to see the real person behind the exterior. This is what Jack did with Ennis. He talked to him in a way that wasn't just meaningless small talk, and was genuinely interested in knowing the real person. He knew there was more to Ennis, just because Ennis was being quiet and shy, Jack didn't take it to mean that Ennis was boring. He wanted to know Ennis's name and remember it, he waited for Ennis outside the office.

If Jack hadn't done that, Ennis would have never opened up to him. It was the way Jack was, his personality, the way he treated Ennis that made all the difference and brought Ennis out of his shell, so to speak. Jack saw Ennis and was intrigued. Ennis had no idea how attractive he even was or why anyone would be interested in him, because his entire life he had never had a person like Jack in his life. Jack saw that vulnerable, fragile person underneath the facade, and the rest is history. People were attracted to Ennis because he was a bit of a mystery,  but only Jack understood. Ennis is a person whom so much is hidden beneath the surface, that it take a very special person to excavate into his soul and bring him out. It was something very special to get to know him, and throughout Ennis's life Jack was the only person that Ennis let in to his personal space, his innermost soul which he never showed to anyone else. Jack was the only one that actually got to know Ennis. Everyone else just saw the facade. Ennis gave his precious gift to Jack and only Jack. And Jack definitely knew this. He knew he was privy to the true Ennis and he cherished that fact that he was the only person in the world who had Ennis's heart.