Topic: The Ennis Quote of I Can't Stand This Anymore

[keren_b]

Lindsey, your interpretation makes a lot of sense to me. it could very well be that Ennis thought Jack was about to leave him and couldn't handle the thought of that.

Why would Ennis think Jack is about to leave him when just the night before Jack expressed how much he missed Ennis?

If Jack was about to leave Ennis, it wasn't because he didn't love him or didn't miss him - it would have been because Ennis couldn't give him what he wanted, because the leash was too short, because he couldn't make it on a few high altitude f***s once or twice a year and this whole reality became too hard for him - and maybe after Jack had said all these things, Ennis realised that as much as Jack loved him and missed him, he wasn't willing to put up with the status quo anymore.

[forbiddenlovers]

Exactly!! Jack loved Ennis more than anyone in this world. For twenty years he loved him and he put up with seeing him once or twice a year. He couldn't do it anymore. He missed him, he loved him, but I'm sure his heart broke everytime he left Ennis. He wouldn't leave because he didn't love it, he would leave because he loved him too much and couldn't handle the situation as it was anymore.

Ann

[MississaugaRed]

Exactly!! Jack loved Ennis more than anyone in this world. For twenty years he loved him and he put up with seeing him once or twice a year. He couldn't do it anymore. He missed him, he loved him, but I'm sure his heart broke everytime he left Ennis. He wouldn't leave because he didn't love it, he would leave because he loved him too much and couldn't handle the situation as it was anymore.

Ann

Perfectly expressed, Ann!

Love may transcend all, but it can't always conquer all.  Eventually, self preservation, the need to protect yourself from future hurt, kicks in and sometimes means you have to walk away from what you love most.  Jack may have been at that point.  That's certainly up for discussion.

Ennis's personality was always better suited to the role of martyr, the suffering-in-silence.  Always trying to be so stoic.  He believes he must fit into the world just the way it exists, live with the status quo, can barely even imagine breaking out of the mold he'd cast their relationship in.

Jack seems to be always pushing, not just at Ennis but at the other limits that are imposed on him in the world as well.  He doesn't want to just settle anymore for the vision that someone else might have of how his life should be lived.

Their opposing approaches to life were spelled out for us early in their time on Brokeback Mountain.

Ennis: "I'll stick with beans."

Jack: "Well, I won't!"

And from there was laid out the course that their river would run.

[stephan]

Ennis: "I'll stick with beans."

Jack: "Well, I won't!"

And from there was laid out the course that their river would run.

MississaugaRed, that concise comment seems right o the dot to me. Thanks for that particularly illuminating thought. Though Ennis later on shoots the elk so that they can have something else to eat, he doesn't change his characteristic go-with-the-flow behaviour.

Stephan

[Valandil Eluch]

Ennis: "I'll stick with beans."

Jack: "Well, I won't!"

And from there was laid out the course that their river would run.

MississaugaRed, that concise comment seems right o the dot to me. Thanks for that particularly illuminating thought. Though Ennis later on shoots the elk so that they can have something else to eat, he doesn't change his characteristic go-with-the-flow behaviour.

Stephan

that is an excellent examples of their personalities

[MississaugaRed]

MississaugaRed, that concise comment seems right o the dot to me. Thanks for that particularly illuminating thought. Though Ennis later on shoots the elk so that they can have something else to eat, he doesn't change his characteristic go-with-the-flow behaviour.

Stephan

You're exactly right, there, Stephan, I never fully considered that.  Shooting the elk was a compromise that Ennis could live with, like some of the other compromises he makes to his life code in order to be with and to please Jack.  He'll bend his life-view to a point, but never enough to fully commit to Jack.

[tpe]

Thanks all for the latest posts. 

I do love the 'stick with beans' illustration.  It is simple but wonderfully significant, IMO.

[MississaugaRed]

Thanks all for the latest posts. 

I do love the 'stick with beans' illustration.  It is simple but wonderfully significant, IMO.

Thanks, Tpe, I've always thought it significant myself because we do come to know them as Ennis the Pragmatic and Jack the Dreamer.

And I guess to be entirely fair we must acknowledge that there are times when Ennis's particular world view has it's place.

Ennis, being pragmatic and practical, understands that somtimes we have to make peace with living in the world as we find it.

Jack teaches us that unless you're able to dream of a different life, a different world, and are prepare to fight for it, things won't ever change.

Sometimes great loss and pain comes with that fight for change (as we lost Jack), but there is loss and pain in accepting the existing reality, too.

Ennis teaches us to live in the world we have; Jack teaches us to reach for the world we WANT!

Again, just MHO.

[tpe]

Thanks, Tpe, I've always thought it significant myself because we do come to know them as Ennis the Pragmatic and Jack the Dreamer.

And I guess to be entirely fair we must acknowledge that there are times when Ennis's particular world view has it's place.

Ennis, being pragmatic and practical, understands that somtimes we have to make peace with living in the world as we find it.

Jack teaches us that unless you're able to dream of a different life, a different world, and are prepare to fight for it, things won't ever change.

Sometimes great loss and pain comes with that fight for change (as we lost Jack), but there is loss and pain in accepting the existing reality, too.

Ennis teaches us to live in the world we have; Jack teaches us to reach for the world we WANT!

Again, just MHO.

Again, beautifully put.

Do you not find it significant and very moving that after Jack died, Ennis becomes a DREAMER?

I am very much moved by this.

[MississaugaRed]

Again, beautifully put.

Do you not find it significant and very moving that after Jack died, Ennis becomes a DREAMER?

I am very much moved by this.

Yes, you're so right and it is so moving.  It's as though he's not only finally learned this from Jack, he's also honouring him in his fashion by trying to emulate the traits that made Jack the man he was.  Very, very touching.

[Patriot1]

Do you not find it significant and very moving that after Jack died, Ennis becomes a DREAMER?

In what way did you see this manifest itself tpe?

[tpe]

"If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it."

In the end, the only way he can stand it is to dream about Jack.

But at least he can dream. 

[tpe]

Do you not find it significant and very moving that after Jack died, Ennis becomes a DREAMER?

In what way did you see this manifest itself tpe?

That he starts dreaming about Jack, as he was when he was young, always on BBM...

[Patriot1]

"If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it."

In the end, the only way he can stand it is to dream about Jack.

But at least he can dream. 

I never even thought of it that way.  What a great observation.

[tpe]

I never even thought of it that way.  What a great observation.

Thanks Patriot1.  Sometimes I wish there was a clean way of introducing the dream sequences into the movie...

A bit OOT, sorry.

[MississaugaRed]

I never even thought of it that way.  What a great observation.

Thanks Patriot1.  Sometimes I wish there was a clean way of introducing the dream sequences into the movie...

A bit OOT, sorry.

Not so terribly OOT, Tpe.  The dream sequences would have given us a further chance to see Jack and Ennis together, who wouldn't want that?  And the dreams would certainly contrast the conflicts of their life together which Ennis couldn't " stand anymore" with the moments that made it possible for him to stand it as long as he did.

So, you're good to go, no worries!

[NoReins]

"If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it."

In the end, the only way he can stand it is to dream about Jack.

But at least he can dream. 

I'm constantly amazed at the insights people offer on here. Like Patriot1, I'd never thought about the ending of the short story in that way - but it just seems so right.

Thanks, tpe.

[tpe]

To see the dead Jack in a dream -- that would be too much for me, I think.

God knows it's hard to contemplate the movie's end as is!

 

[mactwck]

Why is it that some live with doubt and fear (Ennis) instead of love and hope (Jack)?  I must admit to doing the former but I want to live in the latter.  How hard it is to take that leap of faith and chance rejection.  Just one more thing about Jack that I love.

[tpe]

Why is it that some live with doubt and fear (Ennis) instead of love and hope (Jack)?  I must admit to doing the former but I want to live in the latter.  How hard it is to take that leap of faith and chance rejection.  Just one more thing about Jack that I love.

This is a beautiful and deep question.  Thanks mactwck.

I think a life of doubt and fear is never always a choice.  And even a life of hope and love has its share of doubts and fears.

If you have not learned to doubt, you cannot hope.  Similarly, you cannot really love without the fear for that love and its survival. 

Ennis had his abundant and very deep store of love.  His love is indeed the more faithful one.   But Jack's love sustained him, even after that love seemed to falter in the end.  The fear and doubt in Ennis tempered his own love, and by being tempered, it so endured in the process.

Jack's hope may have faltered in the end.  His love was perhaps not as faithful.  But it is my opinion that he did not lose that love entirely.  His doubting his vision of a shared life with Ennis is the stuff of tragedy, but the love of Jack was not completely lost, for it remained with Ennis even after death.  His love did mean something.  It meant something to Ennis, even if belatedly realized in the end.  And the fact that jack's love meant something to Ennis made jack's short life of love and hope worthwhile.

[keren_b]

Ennis, being pragmatic and practical, understands that somtimes we have to make peace with living in the world as we find it.

Jack teaches us that unless you're able to dream of a different life, a different world, and are prepare to fight for it, things won't ever change.
...

Ennis teaches us to live in the world we have; Jack teaches us to reach for the world we WANT!

Do you not find it significant and very moving that after Jack died, Ennis becomes a DREAMER?

Just wanted you to know, tpe, that I've never thought about it and when I read what you wrote it hit me like a lightning, I suddenly had chills all over my body! Ennis became a dreamer. what a beautiful insight.

[Stephen]

I reread this whole thread and I still don't understand how Ennis becomes the dreamer! Annie's story opens with Ennis dreaming of Jack, but we're talking about the film here, aren't we?  I'm lost!

[tpe]

I reread this whole thread and I still don't understand how Ennis becomes the dreamer! Annie's story opens with Ennis dreaming of Jack, but we're talking about the film here, aren't we?  I'm lost!

Stephen, apologies.  Yes, we are mixing the short story and screenplay here.  Of course, the short story begins and ends with dreams.

Thomas

 

[backtobrokeback]

One of the great echoes of the "No more beans!" line in the movie shows us just how much Jack matters to Ennis - the very next food run, he asks for soup, not beans. The Basque even reminds Ennis that he had said specifically that he didn't like soup.  "Well, I'm sick of beans."  Sure, he isn't going to admit that "the other guy doesn't want the beans", but even so, it's quite an interesting response.

I like the idea of Ennis the pragmatist and Jack the dreamer, as you clarified so well, MissisaugaRed.  I had labeled them a bit differently; Ennis doesn't rock the boat, and doesn't attract attention if at all possible; Jack questions things, resents unfairness, won't be told what to do, spurns authority.  Ennis never had time to separate himself from his parents, as Jack did, so that might have some effect (and I'll stop my pop psychology right there.)

-backtobrokeback

[tpe]

...and when I read what you wrote it hit me like a lightning, I suddenly had chills all over my body! Ennis became a dreamer. what a beautiful insight.

keren_b. I hesitated commenting on your reaction.  But I think I do have to confess that everytime I read the last section of the short story, I do react in the same way that you described.  I find the final dream section infinitely sad.  To me, it is probably the most difficult part of the story to read.  Even thinking about it puts me in a blue mood.

It is in that last section of the short story that I have come to love Ennis the most.

[edgar]

...and when I read what you wrote it hit me like a lightning, I suddenly had chills all over my body! Ennis became a dreamer. what a beautiful insight.

keren_b. I hesitated commenting on your reaction.  But I think I do have to confess that everytime I read the last section of the short story, I do react in the same way that you described.  I find the final dream section infinitely sad.  To me, it is probably the most difficult part of the story to read.  Even thinking about it puts me in a blue mood.

It is in that last section of the short story that I have come to love Ennis the most.

On little thing that makes the end of the story a bit more bearable is the idea that Ennis may "have to live with his married daughter" because of economic reasons. Not that the hardship is a good thing, but the fact that living with Jr. is a real possibility is nice. Ennis is sort of socially retarded. The first night Ennis and Jack had a good conversation at the fire was, literally, "more than he had spoken in a year." Jack is a very social person, and a good talker, and a *little* of this was starting to rub off on Jack before Jack died. Maybe if Ennis lives with Jr and her husband, he'll bet back into some social skills.

[tpe]

On little thing that makes the end of the story a bit more bearable is the idea that Ennis may "have to live with his married daughter" because of economic reasons. Not that the hardship is a good thing, but the fact that living with Jr. is a real possibility is nice. Ennis is sort of socially retarded. The first night Ennis and Jack had a good conversation at the fire was, literally, "more than he had spoken in a year." Jack is a very social person, and a good talker, and a *little* of this was starting to rub off on Jack before Jack died. Maybe if Ennis lives with Jr and her husband, he'll bet back into some social skills.

Yes, I agree, at least he has his daughters; Alma Jr. specifically.

But if I recall correctly, the impression one gets from the story is that this would only be temporary -- to tide things over.  Ennis being Ennis, he would probably move on on his owen again...

Still, he has someone else in the world who loves him dearly (if we are to believe the relationship fleshed out in the movie).

Thanks.

[Stephen]

I'm intigued by this thread--and others--and how posts seem to be divided into two camps: those that try to flesh out some kind of positive future for Ennis, even if it's simply his dreaming of Jack (in the written story) or living with his daughter.....and those posts that internalize the tragedy, try to make sense of it, and leave it at that. I once had a professor who said people are tempermentally of one of two camps: Odyssey people or Illiad people!  The Odyssey sensibility, following the life of Odysseus, is pragmatic and expedient and will do what it takes to survive, yearning for the happy ending; the Illiad sensibility follows the course of Achilles, who embodies the tragic vision and sacrifices his life for what he considers the nobel cause and eternal fame......I think Annie Proulx's story comes from the tragic sensibility in which what could be a wonderful, nourishing love for ever, is cut short because of a homophobic world that has destroyed the "nobel" and healthy sensibility of Ennis, and thus his heart breaking words, "I can't stand this anymore.....I'm nobody, I'm nothing...." Well, maybe this rambling doesn't make any sense; it's just a notion I had this early morning!

[xvbbJ]

Yes, I agree.  It seems like he can't stand the agony of their constantly being parted and constantly struggling to be together--the love they've shared for so long that they have never been able to fully enjoy since Brokeback.

Yeah, I definitely see it that way, too. I can identify with Ennis in that moment, it's such a sad moment in time... I think that Ennis wants to forget Jack, or cut him away, but he can't, the bond being too strong, and that he can't stand anymore.

[MississaugaRed]

I'm intrigued by this thread--and others--and how posts seem to be divided into two camps: those that try to flesh out some kind of positive future for Ennis, even if it's simply his dreaming of Jack (in the written story) or living with his daughter.....and those posts that internalize the tragedy, try to make sense of it, and leave it at that. I once had a professor who said people are tempermentally of one of two camps: Odyssey people or Illiad people!  The Odyssey sensibility, following the life of Odysseus, is pragmatic and expedient and will do what it takes to survive, yearning for the happy ending; the Illiad sensibility follows the course of Achilles, who embodies the tragic vision and sacrifices his life for what he considers the nobel cause and eternal fame......I think Annie Proulx's story comes from the tragic sensibility in which what could be a wonderful, nourishing love for ever, is cut short because of a homophobic world that has destroyed the "nobel" and healthy sensibility of Ennis, and thus his heart breaking words, "I can't stand this anymore.....I'm nobody, I'm nothing...." Well, maybe this rambling doesn't make any sense; it's just a notion I had this early morning!

Stephen - such deep thoughts for early morning, I'm humbled!  You're certainly not rambling and you do make perfect sense.  Beautifully done! By taking classic literature and superimposing it over ourbeloved BBM story you show us again how deep the veins of this story truly run.  How many films give you the chance to discuss not only a great love story, but also current social issues AND ancient literature / philosophy? No wonder we keep coming back to see what new insights fellow brokebackers are coming up with.

By the definitions you've proposed here, then, would you consider Ennis of the Odyssey temperament, and Jack of the Illiad??

Ennis's pragmatic temperament seems to be reaching the end of endurance with his cry of "I can't stand this anymore!".   So, even Odyssey people can be broken when the yearning for a happy ending goes unfulfilled for too long?? Is Jack's early death symbolic of Achilles sacrifice, except this time not while searching for eternal fame, but the nobler cause of eternal love??

Thank you for this perspective on Ennis and Jack's personalities!