Topic: The Postcard

[Mykey]

I'd like to know what others think about the symbol of the postcard. In the story Jack's note to Ennis was a letter...and the postcard appeared at the end of the story...Ennis had to order it at Higgin's gift shop... didn't need a hundred..."One's enough" said Ennis. When it came---thirty cents---he pinned it up in his trailer, brass headed tack in each corner...   




                             

  "Well you're goin a go where you look""

[Mykey]

In fact the last 2 quotes in the story from Ennis seem to fit together:

"One's enough".    "Jack,  I swear---"

[tpe]

In fact the last 2 quotes in the story from Ennis seem to fit together:

"One's enough".    "Jack,  I swear---"

Very well said!

[scruffy]

Ooooh, I never thought about the significance of the postcard vs. a letter until now.  You're making me think.

Postcards are sent from from foreign destinations.  They are sent by the traveller to someone left at home.  It's a reminder that how far away the traveller is, they miss and long for the people they left behind.  The famous standard line on a postcard is "wish you were here."

I may have mentioned this somewhere else but it's worth reiterating.  The "general delivery" status on the postcard is really historically significant.  I asked my mother who was a telephone operator in the 1950s said that Ennis most likely didn't have a phone.  General delivery was a last ditch effort to find a lost fiend or family member.  It was a message in a bottle with a five cent stamp.

Ang Lee may have changed it from a letter to a postcard in the movie for visual impact.  The postcard picture is of a mountain -- a reminder of Brokeback.

[proulxfan]

Thanks for the heads-up on general delivery. I'd been meaning to ask about that.

[Cowboy Cody]

Thanks, once again y'all come through with the best insights and explanations!

[Cowboy Cody]

As long as this is about postcards, what is written on the one that arrives from Jack that Alma reads before placing under the paper and other mail?

Also, even tho' she knows, she doesn't throw the postcard away.

[scruffy]

I think it says something like...

Friend, See you in a couple of weeks.  The fish should be jumping.  Jack.

[AnitaSmith]

I may have mentioned this somewhere else but it's worth reiterating.  The "general delivery" status on the postcard is really historically significant.  I asked my mother who was a telephone operator in the 1950s said that Ennis most likely didn't have a phone.  General delivery was a last ditch effort to find a lost fiend or family  member.  It was a message in a bottle with a five cent stamp.

In this world of cell phones and other modes of instant communication, it is hard to fathom the silent distances that Jack and Ennis had to tolerate.  But yet their love and attraction to each other was so strong that it never wavered in spite of that.

[Cowboy Cody]

That's true, but if you are a loner like Ennis, and low on cash, you can live without the phone. He wouldn't a called no one but his daughters and Jack. On the other hand, I don't think Ennis wanted one, because I am convinced if heard Jack's voice he would be a total wreck. It was easier to be detached from Jack that way. I think it tore Ennis up each time to see Jack as much as it was for Jack to see Ennis.

The fish were not jumping as much as Ennis and Jack and their hearts.

[Patriot1]

I asked my mother who was a telephone operator in the 1950s said that Ennis most likely didn't have a phone.

Scruffy, Ennis had a phone.  Remember his boss called him in to work so he had to take the kids to Alma at the store.