Topic: What if Jack and Ennis had really been cowboys?

[afhickman]

I'm thinking here of the 19th century wild, wild West. In the western, the West is a romantic concept that represents an ideal of complete freedom. It's a chance to start all over again, to reinvent yourself. Had Jack and Ennis met in Wyoming in 1863, they would have simply rode, lived, and loved together until their deaths. There would have been no prying eyes, no censoring looks. The only women they would have run into would have been dance hall girls or Annie Oakley wannabes (like Lureen, come to think of it!). A book by Tom Spanbauer entitled "The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon" explores this theme, at least on one level. A young boy who is raised to believe he is part Indian falls in love with an older man, but there are, inevitably, complications. It's one of my all time favorite books, but, for reasons to complex to dwell on here, don't expect a happy ending.  Jack and Ennis, however, could easily have blended in with the culture of the wild West, without creating a stir.  It would have been "a sweet life" indeed. 

"The Mountain Has Wings"

[tpe]

Hello afhickman.

Do you really think so?  I am probably not in a postion to judge this as I am not exactly well versed with 19th century cowboy lore.  What I did read on is that much of the romanticized notions about the cowboy were made in the 20th century (in books and film) and the truth was probably quite different.  So your suggestion is plausible in this regard.  But I would like to hear from others who do have more knowledge in this than I have...

[afhickman]

One of the oddest television shows I ever saw was an episode of "Death Valley Days," the one that was sponsored by Twenty Mule Team Borax and was hosted at one point by Ronald Reagan.  In this episode, a man leads an active, but solitary, life riding shotgun on the mail stage.  He's a bit short and somewhat odd looking, but nobody pays much attention to that sort of thing in this version of the West.  Finally, he dies, and when the undertaker comes to lay him out, it's discovered that he was a woman.  On the American frontier in the 19th century, people didn't have time for niceties.  They kept pretty much to themselves, and they expected the same of their neighbors.  Men, as well as women, routinely slept together.  Even strangers sometimes found themselves sharing a bed in a hotel.  Such a state of affairs could lead to some interesting possibilities, if you get my meaning. 

[TJ]

Annie Proulx said, in words to this effect in an interview, that while she called Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, "ranch boys," and they were "sheep herders, aka shepherds," upon Brokeback Mountain, most people call them cowboys because the rode horses and did work with cattle.

I say, Boys or men who work with cattle while riding horses are always "cowboys."

[tpe]

Yes, there indeed interesting possibilities.

One of the things I gleaned from a readng of a series of volumes called 'A History of Private Life' is that both men and women were thrown into situations where such possibilities did take on added meanings.

Even in medieval Europe, students would routinely share beds for the warmth as well as for lack of sufficient private space.  Even my older friends talk about student camping trips in the USA in the late 40s and 50s where two men would routinely share beds.  With some of my friends, the possibilities did turn into realities.

[TJ]

Oh, in regard to sharing bedspace for warmth, I have seen a number of vintage pics in hardcover books about the Old West days and in the photos with guys out on the range, there were a few with two guys sharing the very same bedroll.