Topic: Ennis and Alma: "North Pole or Equator" ?

[Bubz]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and can't wait to read more. I have found a lot of helpful answers so far but have been stuck on this one particular line from the short story:

Ennis puts his fingers "up into the wet gap all the way to the north pole or the equator depending which way you thought you were sailing."

What on earth does this mean?!

[dorisbennett]

Hm.. this is interesting. It depends on context. I should watch the movie one more time to answer this question

[Bubz]

So this line isn't in the movie; it describes the first sexual interaction we see between Ennis and Alma in the short story. I just never understood the symbolism of that line.

[DonnieDan]

So this line isn't in the movie; it describes the first sexual interaction we see between Ennis and Alma in the short story. I just need one of these pellet smokers and never understood the symbolism of that line.

Interesting line to say the least. Could it mean something simple like "all the way in?"

[tizi17]

actually... i have been here for ages, but i can't remember if we ever discussed this... 

should ask some founding members here... 

[choompty]

I know it’s been literal years, but I have my own thoughts on it!!

It’s not explicitly said in the movie, but there’s a small reference to a line in the book when Ennis and Alma are having sex and he flips her over to her stomach—I’ve always taken that scene to correlate with the mention of them regularly/mostly having anal sex. The look on her face in the movie during that scene seems that of some sort of discomfort, physical or emotional. In the book, there’s a comment that Alma makes about the way they have sex, saying the ‘way they do it doesn’t make babies’, or something close. In the movie, when a condom is mentioned, Ennis gets very defensive, so I don’t take the ‘doesn’t make babies’ line to mean condoms, but anal sex.

The line about the ‘North Pole or Equator’, in my mind, was in reference to them choosing between vaginal or anal sex.