Brokeback Mountain By Annie Proulx

Background knowledge  Annie Proulx  Brokeback Mountain-- O. Henry Awards in 1998

Main Characters  Jack Twist  Ennis del Mar “… high school drop-out with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered, rough spoken, inured to stoic life. ”

Difference  Ennis: prisoner of the life he has been born into “ I ’ m stuck with what I got, caught in my own loop. ” “ There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can ’ t fix it you ’ ve got to stand it. ”

 Jack: more verbally aggressive and outgoing, far less able and willing than Ennis to subjugate his sexual impulses to the demands of conservative married life “ Tell you what, we could a had a good life together, a fuckin real good life. You wouldn ’ t do it, Ennis, so what we got now is Brokeback Mountain. Everthing built on that. It ’ s all we got, boy, fuckin all, so I hope you know that if you don ’ t never know the rest. ” “ Tell you what, we could a had a good life together, a fuckin real good life. You wouldn ’ t do it, Ennis, so what we got now is Brokeback Mountain. Everthing built on that. It ’ s all we got, boy, fuckin all, so I hope you know that if you don ’ t never know the rest. ”

 Alma Beers: Ennis ’ s wife, tolerates Ennis ’ s frequent trip with Jack and financial hardship before she got divorced from Ennis.  Lureen: Jack ’ s wife, daughter of a farm machinery businessman “ No doubt about it, she was polite but the little voice was as cold as snow. ”

Historical Context  Homophobia  LGBT  sexual revolution

Themes  Homophobia in 1960s Joe watched them through binocular and said “ You boys found a way to make the time to pass up there, didn ’ t you. ” “ Jack Twist? Jack Nasty ”

Question  Why Ennis and Jack fell in love with each other in Brokeback mountain but decided to separate after that summer?

 Why they never return to Brokeback mountain? (pg.8)