Topic: The smell of Jack

[orangetruck]

Well I was just thinking if they ever bring out a Brokeback mountain deluxe edition with deleted scenes, I wonder if the lovely Jake could be persuaded to rub some cards over his body so that they could be included as scratch and sniff cards in a few lucky DVDs, like they do with golden tickets in Crisp/Potato chip packets? Just so that we could check it out for ourselves. However rare they were I personally would not stop buying DVDs until I got one! ... Hell I bet the people on this site alone would make Brokeback the top selling DVD of all time!

Rosie
xx

I love your way of thinking here. I would definitely do what I could to get a hold of these babies. Mm mm 
Being here has made me feel less isolated in many ways, and the basic appreciation, and the articulation, for the scent of man is another checkmark down a neverending list.
Cheers my brokie friend 

[ragtimecowboy]

The smell of your lover, his scent is what draws you to him, like no one else.  You know his scent, and crave him.  When Ennis was in Jack's room, and found their shirts, he put his face in it to smell the scent of his lover because maybe he can feel him laying next to him again, he could feel the warmth of his body.   Ennis wanted that, he wanted again to feel Jack. 

Imagine he has to go on without Jack, how painful this will be for him, and all he'll have are the shirts.  Shirts are shirts it's a cold way of looking at it, but I could see tears always in Ennis's eyes, because this is as close he'll ever be to his lover of twenty years.   

      so very true, the reality of what he had and what he lost brought on that flood of tears in his eyes. To think that all he had to hold now was 2 shirts when he could have had Jack had he faced his fears. Memories indeed! imagine the effect that even the faintest whiff of Jack's pheromones was having. so sad!

[tpe]

If there was no smell left on those shirts (and Proulx pretty much implied this), then it was surely necessary for Ennis to imagine the scent of Jack.  I am sure that he smelled it.

[lamusica]

Annie mentions how  Jack smelled a couple of times in the ss.  Always, no matter what he was doing or how much he may have stunk, there was a pleasant under-odor that he exhuded.   I think she always wanted the reader to know that Jack was desireable, no matter how much physical exertion he may have been doing, or how seldom he may have been able to bathe well.  There was something attractive in his personal scent that drew in Ennis, and everyone else who got close enough.  I mean, let's face it, being on the road rodeoing and having so little money, Jack couldn't have spent too many nights in a nice motel with good shower facilities.  He had to be rank at times.  Still, Annie makes it a point to bring up his smell and always concludes her description with something good, like earthiness, or clean air, or fresh hay.  This greatly enriches our total picture of Jack.  She doesn't mention Ennis's odor, as I recall.  That's a mystery.

[orangetruck]

Annie mentions how  Jack smelled a couple of times in the ss.  Always, no matter what he was doing or how much he may have stunk, there was a pleasant under-odor that he exhuded.   I think she always wanted the reader to know that Jack was desireable, no matter how much physical exertion he may have been doing, or how seldom he may have been able to bathe well.  There was something attractive in his personal scent that drew in Ennis, and everyone else who got close enough.  I mean, let's face it, being on the road rodeoing and having so little money, Jack couldn't have spent too many nights in a nice motel with good shower facilities.  He had to be rank at times.  Still, Annie makes it a point to bring up his smell and always concludes her description with something good, like earthiness, or clean air, or fresh hay.  This greatly enriches our total picture of Jack.  She doesn't mention Ennis's odor, as I recall.  That's a mystery.

I naturally find this very intriguing and sensual and, to be frank, sexy. From Jack sweating and 'smelling' to Ennis' odor being up in the air. Quite a genius and romantically crafted stark naked dynamic by Proulx. The power of scent is so undeniable.   

[tpe]

Annie mentions how  Jack smelled a couple of times in the ss.  Always, no matter what he was doing or how much he may have stunk, there was a pleasant under-odor that he exhuded.   I think she always wanted the reader to know that Jack was desireable, no matter how much physical exertion he may have been doing, or how seldom he may have been able to bathe well.  There was something attractive in his personal scent that drew in Ennis, and everyone else who got close enough.  I mean, let's face it, being on the road rodeoing and having so little money, Jack couldn't have spent too many nights in a nice motel with good shower facilities.  He had to be rank at times.  Still, Annie makes it a point to bring up his smell and always concludes her description with something good, like earthiness, or clean air, or fresh hay.  This greatly enriches our total picture of Jack.  She doesn't mention Ennis's odor, as I recall.  That's a mystery.

Yes. But as the Poet said, even the rank smell of an armpit is fragrant champak to the lover. 

The refinement of the senses is unique to the human condition.  It speaks of a power to see the world as a personal vision.

[jackster]

The refinement of the senses is unique to the human condition.  It speaks of a power to see the world as a personal vision.

This discussion reminds me of one of the most powerful lines in the SS where Annie uses her great talent to really nail the atmosphere so you feel that you are there in the room (and wishing you were!):

The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old
carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap. Ennis lay spread
eagled, spent and wet, breathing deep, still half tumescent; . . . .

Man this gets me every time I read it. Talk about erotic, or as Jack would say . . . Whoeee, Yeah!

[tpe]

This discussion reminds me of one of the most powerful lines in the SS where Annie uses her great talent to really nail the atmosphere so you feel that you are there in the room (and wishing you were!):

The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old
carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap. Ennis lay spread
eagled, spent and wet, breathing deep, still half tumescent; . . . .

Man this gets me every time I read it. Talk about erotic, or as Jack would say . . . Whoeee, Yeah!

Yes, it is a striking vision, especially on its descriptive assault on the senses.  Such is the power of wonderful writing.

[lamusica]

Right on, jackster.  That passage has always caught my attention.  It is so aromatic!  You can imagine yourself in the room with them, and all the smells just make it that much more real -- tangible.  Need I say, again, how much I love Annie's writing.  This is why.