Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Art of Communication

"They never talked about the sex... saying not a goddamn word except once Ennis said, "I'm not no queer," and Jack jumped in with "Me neither. A one shot thing. Nobody's business but ours" (262).

This passage comes just after Ennis and Jack's relationship turns sexual. Both men find them selves denying the fact, that their relationship is not "normal" among friends, colleges and men. Since they never speak about their feeling and the situation, neither man knows what the relationship means. Especially, at the end of summer, when they finish the job, and go home without either man expressing his desire to the other about maintaing a relationship. Dating and sex are already complicated, but then add two straight men (one whom is engaged) and their lack of communication into the mix, and it makes for a disastrous outcome. This single-handedly ruined their lives, ultimately leading both men to live unhappy lives apart from one another.

Do you think if Jack and Ennis had established their relationship early on during their first summer, they would have been able to maintain their relationship, while live a "good life together" (277)?

2 comments:

  1. Ennis and Jack "relationship" falls short of having any potential or optimism because of the lack of communication in both parties. Neither of the men come to terms with the exact definition of their relationship, just as neither discuss the extent and purpose of such. In their society, homosexuality was revered with disgust and disapproval, and the two men faced a lot of confusion with their escapades, never truly embracing the reality behind their secret love, never accepting their relationship nor getting the closure needed. The lack of communication proved to be the downfall of their exploits and strong attraction, bringing their eventual departure after the summer job and subsequent unhappiness. It all comes down to communication and its important in any healthy and stable relationship.

    Discussion Question: Was there any real point to discussing the extent and establishment of their relationship, given the historical context, current predicaments of both men, and difficulty in grasping such a fantasy?

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  2. I agree that this story is hinged on the idea of silence and lack of communication-- both because of the nature of the particular men involved and the practices of their society. However, in their time after the summer at Brokeback Mountain, there are attempts to communicate about the relationship, particularly from Jack. In such attempts, both men put the summer at Brokeback Mountain on a pedestal, labeling it as a time when things were nothing short of perfect. However, this quote illustrates that the summer at Brokeback Mountain was not in fact a perfect summer, for at the core there was still a suppression of feelings working beneath their relationship. While it was a summer where they were able to be relatively open physically, this was not the case emotionally.

    Discussion Question:
    Since the summer at Brokeback Mountain was not a time of emotional openness between the two men, why was it so revered from by them? Is this reverence purely physical?

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