Brokeback Mountain LitChart

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Brokeback Mountain
Faulkner, Theodore Dreiser, and Herman Melville, other “great
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION American writers” whose work deals with nostalgia, morality,
ambition, and desire. “Brokeback Mountain” joins a growing
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ANNIE PROULX literary tradition of works that deal compassionately with the
Proulx was born in Connecticut in 1935. She is of English and experiences of gay people. Other seminal works from (or set in)
French-Canadian ancestry. In 1969 she graduated cum laude the same period include the plays The Lar
Laramie
amie Pr
Project
oject by Moisés
from the University of Vermont, and earned an M.A. at Sir Kaufman (also set in Wyoming) and Angels in America by Tony
George Williams University in Montreal, Canada. She lived in Kushner.
Vermont for more than 30 years before moving to Wyoming in
1994. She currently resides in Seattle. Proulx began her writing
KEY FACTS
career as a journalist, but soon turned to fiction and published
stories in publications like Seventeen and Esquire. Prior to • Full Title: Brokeback Mountain
“Brokeback Mountain,” she garnered significant critical praise • When Written: 1990s
for her novel The Shipping News (1993), including the Pulitzer • Where Written: Saratoga, Wyoming
Prize and U.S. National Book Award. She is the recipient of
• When Published: 1997
many other awards for her writing, such as the O. Henry Prize
(won twice), National Book Foundation Medal (Lifetime • Literary Period: Late 20th century
Achievement), and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. • Genre: Short story
• Setting: Wyoming, middle-to-late twentieth century
HISTORICAL CONTEXT • Climax: Jack’s death
In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy and lawyer Roy Cohn • Antagonist: Joe Aguirre, Homophobia
began a campaign to expose and expunge supposedly • Point of View: Third person, mostly limited to Ennis
communist or communist-sympathetic people working in the
U.S. government, which has been deemed the “Red Scare.” Less EXTRA CREDIT
well known is the “Lavender Scare” that sought to persecute
people accused of being homosexuals from working in The Silver Screen “Brokeback Mountain” was adapted into a
government, schools, the military, and many other occupations. major motion picture in 2005. It won a BAFTA, an Academy
McCarthy and his supporters accused these “lavender lads” of Award, and a Golden Globe.
being communist sympathizers who were open to blackmail. In
1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law Stage Production In 2014, an opera based on “Brokeback
Executive Order 10450, which barred “sexual perverts” from Mountain” premiered in Madrid, with the libretto penned by
working for the government in any capacity. This ban led to Proulx.
over 5,000 firings and would have been in effect during the
time of Ennis and Jack’s employment with the Forest Service, a
government agency. More to the point, however, the “lavender PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
scare” of the ‘50s is emblematic of the public’s perception of
Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist are two poor boys born on small
homosexuality as an abomination—a perception which gave
ranches in Wyoming around the time of the Second World War.
helped give rise to the atmosphere of virulent homophobia in
Ennis’ parents died when he was young, so his older brother
which Jack and Ennis lived.
and sister raised him. Both boys dropped of out of school in
order to work, and meet for the first time in the summer of
RELATED LITERARY WORKS 1963 as ranch hands on Brokeback Mountain, before either of
In 1999, Proulx published a collection of stories entitled Close them is 20.
Range: Wyoming Stories. “Brokeback Mountain,” which had Their boss is Joe Aguirre, a cold man who doesn’t think much of
originally been published as a novella the year prior, was the two boys when he meets them. Ennis is assigned the job of
included in the collection. Each of the stories was inspired by tender, and Jack is given the role of herder, for which Joe
Proulx’s years spent living in Wyoming, and focuses on commands him to sleep far out in the wilderness to watch the
protagonists, often with difficult lives, from the largely rural sheep at night.
state. Proulx’s writing style has been compared to William
Jack has worked at the mountain before, and he gives Ennis
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advice about working there. The two boys get to work, In 1983, they spend several days together at a lake. Jack
occasionally noticing each other across the natural beauty of expresses his frustration that they don’t see each other more
the mountain. often. Ennis replies that he has work responsibilities, and needs
As the summer wears on, they get to know each other well, to pay child support. He is also still scared about their physical
exchanging stories about their families and backgrounds. Jack safety when they are together. They leave things unresolved.
complains that he hates being so far away from the main camp, Several months later, Ennis sends a postcard to Jack about
and Ennis offers to switch roles with him. arranging their next meeting. It is returned with the notice
One night, after Ennis and Jack have been up late drinking and DECEASED. Jack calls Lureen, who tells Ennis that Jack died
talking, Jack declares that it’s too late for Ennis to go back out when a tire exploded while he was changing it. Ennis assumes
to the sheep, and that Ennis should stay with him. Soon they that there is more to the story than this, and that Jack likely
begin to have sex, an encounter that neither of them speak died in a manner similar to Earl.
about but implicitly know will repeat itself through the rest of Ennis visits Jack’s family, and asks to scatter Jack’s ashes on
the summer. Brokeback Mountain, like Lureen mentioned he had wanted.
In the wilderness and solitude of the mountain, Ennis and Jack Jack’s father is cruel to him, and refuses, insinuating that he
feel free and alone in their intimacy. However, Joe Aguirre knows Jack and Ennis were lovers. In Jack’s room, Ennis finds a
watches them have sex through binoculars, and treats Jack shirt that Jack wore on the Mountain, and nested inside it, one
coldly when he delivers the news that his uncle is dying. There of his own shirts that had gone missing. He takes these home
is a hailstorm, and the sheep from the Brokeback herd get with him and hangs them on the wall of his trailer alongside a
mixed up with another. Ennis is unable to accurately pick them postcard of Brokeback Mountain. He resigns himself to
apart. dreaming about what could have been between the two of
them, and continues to live his life on the fringes of society.
The summer finishes, and Jack and Ennis go their separate
ways: Ennis to marry Alma Beers, and Jack back home to
Lightning Flat. When they say goodbye, Ennis feels sick to his CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS
stomach.
Ennis marries Alma, and she quickly becomes pregnant, giving MAJOR CHARACTERS
birth to a daughter they name Alma Jr. Ennis works a series of Ennis del Mar —Ennis was born in Wyoming, near the Utah
low-paying ranch jobs. He enjoys their itinerant lifestyle, but border, around the time of World War II. Raised on a small
Alma hates it. Four years after the summer of 1963, Ennis ranch, his parents died when he was young, and his brother and
receives a postcard from Jack, saying he’ll be in town. When the sister raised him. He is described as being tall with a narrow
men reunite, they kiss passionately, which Alma sees. They face, and muscular with quick reflexes. When his truck breaks
spend a few days together in a motel room, where they admit down and he doesn’t have enough money to fix it, he can’t get to
how much they had missed each other, and resolve to see each school any longer, so he drops out of high school and goes in
other more often. Jack wants them to get a ranch together, but search of work. He meets Jack Twist during the summer of
Ennis thinks it would be too conspicuous. He tells Jack about 1963 on Brokeback Mountain, when neither of them is yet 20
Earl and Rich, two ranchers who lived together near Ennis years old. He marries Alma Beers and has two daughters with
when he was young. Earl was beaten to death with a tire iron her, Alma Jr. and Francine. They eventually divorce. For most of
and mutilated. Ennis’ father made sure Ennis saw the corpse, his life, he works a series of ranch jobs around the state of
and Ennis surmised that his father had something to do with Wyoming. He carries on a secret affair with Jack for the better
the death. part of 20 years, and is left in deep mourning when Jack dies in
As the years wear on, Jack and Ennis continue to steal time to 1983. Ennis, though often gruff on the outside, is revealed to
see one another under the guise of “fishing trips.” Alma and have a tender side through his relationship with Jack. When
Ennis have another child that they name Francine, but their Ennis and Jack part ways after their summer on Brokeback
marriage eventually falls apart and Alma gets remarried to the Mountain, Ennis feels so upset over losing Jack that he feels
local grocer. Ennis attends Thanksgiving at her new home with physically sick. This physical manifestation of his love for Jack
the grocer, where Alma accuses him of having a relationship resurfaces 20 years later, when the men are again faced with
with Jack. Ennis responds violently and doesn’t see his children the prospect of a lasting separation—showing that Ennis’s
for many years after that. steely shell guards a vulnerable and emotional person. Ennis
lives in a state of near constant fear that he and Jack could be
Ennis continues to work low-paying, itinerant ranch jobs. Jack
physically harmed for their romance—a fear that originates in
marries Lureen, a wealthy woman whose father runs a farm-
the fact that, when he was a child, his father showed him the
machinery business. They continue to see each other over the
mutilated body of a gay rancher. Much like Ennis’s love for Jack,
years, and their desire does not wane, even as their bodies age.

this fear follows Ennis for years. When the story ends, it seems daughters with her, and is soon pregnant with a third child.
that Ennis is doomed to live alone with the painful truth that he
was unable to achieve a sense of safety and belonging with the MINOR CHARACTERS
man he loved in a world where being openly gay is simply not an
Alma Jr
Jr.. and F
Frrancine —Ennis and Alma’s two daughters.
option.
Lureen —Jack’s wife, daughter of a wealthy farm-machinery
Jack TTwist
wist – Jack was born in Lightning Flat, Wyoming, around
businessman from Texas.
the time of World War II. His parents are ranchers, and he
worked on Brokeback Mountain one summer prior to meeting
Ennis. Like Ennis, he had to drop out of high school to work. He
is described as having curly hair and a buck-toothed grin. He
THEMES
eventually marries Lureen, the daughter of a wealthy farm- In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
machinery businessman based in Texas, and they have one son. coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
He dies in 1983, likely at the hands of a homophobic mob. Like occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
Ennis, Jack carries a deep desire and longing for something he a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
never quite achieves prior to his untimely death. However, he black and white.
differs from Ennis in that he is more impulsive and
promiscuous. He boasts of sleeping with many other women, DESIRE, REPRESSION, AND REGRET
and though he never discloses this to Ennis, he also sleeps with
other men. Even so, Ennis remains Jack’s true love, and he In “Brokeback Mountain,” Ennis del Mar and Jack
desperately wants to find a way to see Ennis more often, Twist fall in love while working as ranch hands on
preferably on a daily basis. Jack becomes a wealthy man thanks Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. At the end of
to Lureen’s inherited business, while Ennis continues to work the summer, they part ways and attempt to start separate,
low-paying ranch jobs. However, Ennis enjoys and takes pride in conventional (i.e., heterosexual) lives, marrying women and
his work, while Jack is relegated to a “vague managerial title” having children. Four years later, when the two men meet again
and feels subordinate to his wife. Stealing time away from his and still want each other more than anything, Jack raises the
home life in Texas to be with Ennis (and also, perhaps, other possibility that they could live together and start a business.
men) is one way Jack feels in control of his life. Ultimately, Ennis, however, firmly rejects the idea—it’s the 1960s in
Ennis’s worst fears come true when Jack is murdered by a Wyoming, and homosexuality is forbidden and dangerous.
homophobic mob, likely due to his more frequent (and less Besides, they have obligations to their wives and children, and
careful) engagement in same-sex relationships. Ennis doesn’t want to be a social outcast. Choosing a more
conventional life over the life they both truly want could be
Joe Aguirre – Joe Aguirre employs Jack and Ennis to work on seen as a rational decision, but it doesn’t lead them to
Brokeback Mountain during the summer of 1963. He is a surly happiness. Being unable to build a life together casts a long and
man, who looks down upon the young men who come and work dark shadow on their relationship, but their frustrated desire
for him. He watches Ennis and Jack have sex through also prevents them from living and enjoying the lives they have
binoculars, and though he doesn’t say anything to them directly, chosen instead. Therefore, Proulx shows how rejecting the
he treats them coldly after that. Later, when Jack tries to get a opportunity to fulfill a deep desire in favor of bending to social
job from Joe in the summer of 1964, Joe turns Jack away and expectations leads to tragic results.
implies he knows the nature of Jack and Ennis’s relationship.
From the beginning of their love affair, Ennis and Jack try and
Alma Beers Alma marries Ennis del Mar during the fall of 1963. fail to repress their desire for one another. For example, the
She gives birth to their first daughter, Alma Jr., and a few years first time the men part ways to return to their more
later, to Francine. She dislikes Ennis’s predilection for low- conventional lives, Ennis feels a physical pain that he mistakes
paying ranch work with long hours, and wants to settle down for food poisoning. His desire for Jack is so strong that it affects
somewhere to raise her family. She eventually gets a job at a his mind and his body. Furthermore, when they finally see each
grocery store in Riverton. Jack’s reunion with Ennis is the other for the first time after four years, they embrace and,
beginning of a gradual distancing between Alma and Ennis that without thinking, kiss passionately, even though Ennis’s wife
eventually culminates in divorce. After Ennis’s weekend in a Alma is nearby. This flagrant display of affection catches them
hotel room with Jack, he shows little interest in being intimate both by surprise, which shows that their desire is automatic
with Alma, and often takes time away from work and his family and cannot be rationally controlled.
to go on “fishing trips” with Jack, which Alma knows are much
more than just time spent by a lake. Alma eventually realizes Despite their uncontrollable desire, Ennis’s decision to live
her life with Ennis is going nowhere, which leads her to get a separately from Jack is a deliberate and even rational choice in
divorce. She then marries the Riverton grocer, taking her two the sense that it prioritizes safety, family, and community.

When Ennis was a child, his father took him to see the While violence is the most clearly horrible outcome of
mutilated corpse of a local gay man (one living in a thinly-veiled widespread intolerance, Proulx also uses Ennis’ thoughts and
domestic partnership akin to the one Jack proposes), which experiences to show that intolerance can lead to internal
made Ennis acutely aware that expressing homosexual desire psychological effects that are nearly as devastating as outright
could get him killed. Thus, Ennis’s refusal to live with Jack can violence. Ultimately, homophobia robs both men of their lives:
be seen as a fervent wish for their mutual safety. Furthermore, Jack is murdered for his sexuality, while Ennis is stuck in limbo,
Ennis feels strongly about his obligation towards his wife and unable to fulfill his desires or fit into a society that can’t accept
children. He has made a commitment to them and feels him the way he is.
responsible for supporting them, so leaving his job and family to Intolerance and hatred, both internalized and external, are
elope with Jack strikes Ennis as irresponsible and even present even in the remote hills of Brokeback Mountain.
immoral. Throughout their first summer together, Jack and Ennis never
While Ennis’s decision not to live with Jack can clearly be seen discuss the nature of their relationship or their feelings for one
as both moral and rational, he comes to regret repressing his another, which shows how ingrained homophobic norms are.
desire. This is, in part, due to the fact that the life he believed he Only once does Ennis voice that he “ain’t no queer,” a sentiment
was choosing—a life of family, community, and safety—proves Jack immediately agrees with. Though the two men are sexually
unattainable as a direct consequence of his repressed desire, intimate, they are afraid to label themselves as gay, since they
which destroys his marriage. Ennis and his wife divorce have both internalized the notion that gay men are unnatural
because she can tell that Ennis wants Jack more than her (he and they know that being outed can be a death sentence. While
takes many trips with Jack, for example, but never takes his wife the two men do not experience outright violence that summer,
and children on holidays). Furthermore, Ennis and Jack are they do face social consequences for their relationship. Their
never really able to fit into society and find a community, even boss, Joe Aguirre, watches them have sex through binoculars.
though they try to present themselves as “normal” and While he doesn’t address their relationship explicitly, he treats
heterosexual. Ennis remains single and drifts from job to job, both men coldly afterwards. He doesn’t dismount his horse to
while Jack has extramarital affairs, a vague managerial role in deliver Jack the news that his uncle is dying, and he declines to
his wife’s company, and his father-in-law never accepts him. offer them jobs again for next summer.
Thus, even though Ennis thinks he is sparing both of their lives While Joe Aguirre’s homophobia is expressed without outright
by choosing not to live together as gay men, Jack is still violence, the threat of violence, and even death, is a very real
murdered by homophobes and Ennis is left lonely and full of possibility for Jack and Ennis should their relationship become
regret. public knowledge. This shapes both their choices and fates. The
Ennis’s reasons for choosing not to fulfill his deep desire to live fear of violence drives Ennis, in particular, because his father
with Jack are understandable and even sensible. And yet, after took him as a child to see the mutilated corpse of a gay man
Jack’s death, once the life they both wanted is no longer (Earl) who was murdered as a punishment for his sexuality. As a
available to them, Ennis is filled with regret. He wishes he had result of this experience, Ennis will not entertain the possibility
taken risks to be with Jack, knowing that the life he chose of living with Jack, even if that is what he wants most; when the
instead has not been happy enough to outweigh the lost two men kissed in front of Ennis’s wife, Ennis tells Jack that if
potential for a happy partnership with Jack. Ennis refuses to let they do that again they will “be dead.” Jack does not have the
his love for Jack die with his body, and continues to dream same fear that Ennis does, and while it allows him to be more
about him. He resigns himself to living with his pain and his open to expressing and exploring his desires, his freer attitude
memories of Jack—a better fate than never having met Jack at towards his sexuality eventually leads him to be murdered by
all, or banishing him from his thoughts forever. homophobes. The violence that has cast a pall over their
relationship from the beginning is ultimately what brings it to a
INTOLERANCE AND VIOLENCE premature end.
Intolerance, and the violence to which it can lead, While Ennis’s internalization of the intolerance around him may
are constant threats to Jack and Ennis’s save his life (as it leads him to be more careful with his behavior
relationship. Proulx presents intolerance toward than Jack), this internalization of homophobia also leads Ennis
homosexuality as a pervasive characteristic in Jack and Ennis’s to psychological distress. It’s clear, for example, that Ennis is
society—not something specific to certain people or places. Earl uncomfortable with his own sexuality because the only times in
and Jack’s violent deaths, for instance, are attributed not to any the story in which he is violent occur in response to others
one person, but rather to a generalized “them.” Jack and Ennis’s directly acknowledging his sexual desire. The first instance is at
fear of this pervasive violence and intolerance keeps them from the end of their summer at Brokeback Mountain, when Ennis
being together, and for good reason: homophobic violence is punches Jack hard for no apparent reason, although it seems
ultimately what kills Jack and leaves Ennis alone with his regret. that this unexpected violence is due to his own shame and

distress over having to leave the man he loves. This dominance, and for a time, it seems that both Jack and Ennis
interpretation of Ennis’s violence towards Jack gains credence are able to fit into this narrow ideal. At first, both men appear to
when, years after Alma witnesses Jack and Ennis in a have picture-perfect families. Ennis and Alma marry and have
passionate embrace, she reveals to Ennis that she knew about two girls, whom Ennis adores. Ennis asserts dominance over
Jack and Ennis’s relationship and calls Jack “nasty.” Ennis hurts Alma, dictating where they live, how much money they earn,
Alma in a fit of violent rage and, as a result, he doesn’t see her and how they have sex. Likewise, Jack marries Lureen and
or his children for several years afterwards. This is seemingly moves to Texas, where he has a son. However, when Ennis and
the first time Ennis has been accused of being gay, and he uses Jack reignite their affair, both men’s façades of traditional
violence to try and show Alma that she is wrong, as well as to masculinity begin to fall apart. Ennis loses interest in Alma, both
intimidate her into not sharing what she knows with others. emotionally and sexually, and she divorces him, taking the girls
Ennis’s shame over his sexuality, which leads him to violence, with her. Meanwhile, Jack has extramarital affairs with both
shapes all of his choices and actions throughout the story. men and women and is relegated to a vague managerial role
While Jack is open to the idea of being a social outcast in order when Lureen inherits her father’s business, leaving him with
to live with Ennis, Ennis does not entertain this possibility and, less power than his wife. When Jack dies, Lureen tells Ennis it
as a result, he loses his chance at the life he most wants. was due to an accident (which it most likely wasn’t), revealing
Although Ennis has not been physically touched by that she is ashamed of her late husband’s sexuality.
homophobic violence—he does not lose his life, as Jack Even though it was something of an open secret that Jack was
does—he must live with the regret of not having fulfilled his gay, his family members attempt to masculinize him even after
deepest desires, which is a bitter and heartbreaking his death. When Ennis goes to visit Jack’s family to get
experience. Therefore, Ennis must live with the pain of losing permission to scatter Jack’s ashes over Brokeback Mountain
the person he loved most, living a life on the fringe of society, as Jack had wanted, Jack’s father refuses and insinuates that he
and knowing that to live as his true self would be to die a violent knows Ennis and Jack were more than old ranching buddies.
death. This implies that Jack’s father’s homophobia causes him to defy
his son’s own wishes for what would happen with his remains.
MASCULINITY AND SEXUALITY Ultimately, Jack’s family buries the rest of his ashes in an
ancestral burial ground. This connects Jack to his family (and
Jack and Ennis’s homosexuality defies the
thus to his homophobic father) forevermore, rather than
masculine norms under which they have been
connecting him to Brokeback Mountain, a symbol of freedom
raised, leaving them unable to reconcile their
and personal choice. Even in death, then, Jack is subjected to
understanding of the lives they are supposed to lead as men
strict societal expectations about who he should be.
with the relationships they want to pursue. Proulx explores the
intersection of masculinity and homosexuality by illustrating Every aspect of Ennis and Jack’s life and identity is influenced
the ways in which society sees any deviation from the very by societal expectations of who they will be as men, and it’s
narrow traditional notions of masculinity as unnatural and ironic that the masculine traits they wish to present to the
deserving of punishment. Ultimately, this reveals the inherent world are also the traits that, in others, bring them the most
flaws of narrowly defining how an entire gender must act and misery. Ennis, for example, refuses to leave his life and move to
advocates for a more expansive definition of masculinity—one a ranch with Jack due to his fear of masculine violence, but
that includes non-heterosexual forms of sexual expression. Ennis himself becomes violent in instances in which he feels
that his sexual orientation is eclipsing his masculinity (such as
Jack and Ennis have both internalized homophobic concepts of
when Alma insinuates that she knows he is sexually intimate
masculinity that they learned from their fathers. When he was
with Jack). By punishing men who stray from tradition with
a young boy, for instance, Ennis’s father took him to see the
violence and even death, men scare people like Ennis into
mutilated corpse of a gay man (Earl), and Ennis even surmises
denying themselves the lives they want to lead and encourage
that his father may have been one of the men who killed Earl.
them to prove their masculinity through violence, thereby
This experience was clearly meant to impress upon Ennis that
ensuring a self-perpetuating cycle of masculine violence.
being gay was not acceptable. Likewise, Ennis recalls a story
Therefore, traditional masculinity is shown to be anything but
Jack told him about how his father once beat and urinated on
“natural”—rather, it is a violently-reinforced set of socially-
him for not making it to the toilet in time, even though he was
constructed norms.
only three or four years old. Like Ennis’s father “punishing” Earl
for his homosexuality, Jack’s father’s punishment of Jack for
soiling himself shows that masculine norms are often HOME AND BELONGING
reinforced through violence and humiliation, no matter how Jack and Ennis’s difficult childhoods have shaped
minor or accidental the “transgression.” their adult lives. Because of this, they think often
Traditional notions of masculinity prize heterosexual virility and about what home means to them and they search

for a new concept of home that is more welcoming than the Ennis. When they meet, they frequently argue about when and
ones with which they grew up. Ennis seeks a sense of home by how they will see each other next, a concern that never came
denying his desire for Jack and sticking to traditional notions of up on the mountain, where time and desire seemed endless and
family and masculinity, while Jack searches for home in Ennis. without limit.
He frequently asks to see Ennis more often, and repeatedly When Jack dies, Ennis creates a shrine to his memory with a
proposes that they run away together to start a ranch or go postcard of Brokeback Mountain and some of their old shirts.
somewhere with less restrictive social norms. Ennis always Brokeback Mountain is intimately tied to his memories of his
refuses on the grounds of familial responsibility and physical lover, no matter how many years have passed since that first
safety, a choice that ultimately denies both of them their ideal summer together. Despite Jack’s violent murder, Ennis chooses
concept of home. Home is a word that is traditionally to remember him the way he was on the mountain, before life
associated with a sense of belonging, warmth, comfort, and and society kept them apart. Yet the two-dimensional postcard
happiness. In reality, however, home for both men proves to be will never come close to their lost experience of feeling at home
more closely associated with restrictive social norms, on the mountain, which underscores that feeling at home is a
expectations, and responsibilities than with belonging or rarefied experience that must be cultivated and treasured.
happiness.
Jack and Ennis’s childhood homes inform who they become and
how they make decisions, which impacts their lives and SYMBOLS
relationships. While their childhoods had significant
differences (Ennis’s parents died when he was young, while Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and
Jack’s parents outlive him), their early lives had significant Analysis sections of this LitChart.
parallels. Both grew up in Wyoming, and neither man finished
high school or had lofty career ambitions. Both Jack and Ennis BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
have also experienced abuse at the hands of their fathers.
For both Ennis and Jack, Brokeback Mountain
Ennis’s father was a violent man who may have murdered a gay
represents pure freedom of romantic and sexual
man (Earl), and Jack’s father, who is similarly homophobic, once
expression, totally removed from the limitations of society.
beat and urinated on Jack as a toddler. The abuse both men
Unlike the impoverished ranches on which they grew up,
endured at the hands of their fathers impacts how they
Brokeback Mountain is filled with natural beauty, and provides
approach their taboo relationship. Ennis’s homophobic father
them with the peace and solitude for their love to grow. The
scares him into not wanting to live as a couple with Jack, for he
mountain lives on in their memories as an idyllic location and
fears for their physical safety, while Jack longs to fulfill his
representation of what their love once was, and what it could
desires in spite of his upbringing and wants to live with Ennis on
be once more, if only they could escape judgment and fear.
their own ranch. Ennis’s concept of home is one of physical
safety, whereas Jack’s is one of emotional fulfillment. And yet, even the Mountain was not perfect. The work they did
there was hard and underpaid, and Joe Aguirre spied on them
For both men, the summer of 1963 on Brokeback Mountain is
from a perch with binoculars. Joe even refuses to hire Jack for
as close as they get to their concepts of home: they are
work the following summer due to his relationship with Ennis.
secluded in the mountain, surrounded only by nature and one
Thus, even on the mountain they could not escape the
another, so they feel simultaneously physically safe and
judgment of society. The Brokeback Mountain that lives in
emotionally fulfilled. The beauty and solitude of the mountain is
Ennis and Jack’s memory is one that is a more beautiful place
a memory that chases Jack and Ennis for the rest of their lives.
than it was in reality. They must continue to conjure this image
They recall it as a time before the pressures of children and
of the mountain because their lives depend on the dream that
wives dominated their lives, and before they realized just how
they will one day be reunited in the simple solitude they shared
special it was that they had a place where they could be
in the summer of 1963.
together, unafraid that they would be punished by society.
In the story, Brokeback Mountain is often invoked during the
The two men strive repeatedly to recreate this environment by
story’s most difficult moments, such as when the two men are
retreating into the wilderness for their affairs over the next
arguing over how and when they will next be with each other,
twenty years, but they never come close to the purity and ease
or when Jack dies and Lureen mentions he wanted his ashes to
they achieved on the mountain. Ennis is never able to forget his
be strewn there, or when Ennis, mourning Jack’s death, hangs
responsibilities towards his work and his children. He’s also
up a postcard of the mountain next to Jack’s shirts. Brokeback
never fully at ease, and worries that if they make a wrong move,
Mountain represents a kind of salvation—a place to which
or act suspiciously in the wrong place, they will be in danger of
Ennis and Jack can one day return once they have endured the
being beaten, or even being murdered. Jack longs to erase
torture of real life.
these responsibilities and fears, and to run away to Mexico with

TIRE IRON into a stereotype of poor rancher boys from Wyoming,

Tire irons come to represent a physical and given their lack of education, family situations, and ways of
pervasive manifestation of homophobia life. By opening her story with a description of these two
throughout the story. Tire irons are used to beat Earl to death, supposedly typical men, Proulx is setting up the later
and Ennis presumes that Jack died by being beaten with tire disclosure that there is something unusual about Jack and
irons, too. At the end of the story, Proulx describes Ennis’s Ennis—something that breaks the conventionally masculine
dreams of Jack when he was young, eating beans out of a can mold she describes here.
with a spoon. She writes, “The spoon handle was the kind that
could be used as a tire iron.” Even when Ennis dreams of Jack
when they were both young, in love, and carefree, the threat of
In 1963, when he met Jack Twist, Ennis was engaged to
judgment, hatred, and death tinges the memory. Thus the tire
Alma Beers. Both Jack and Ennis claimed to be saving
iron symbolizes the pervasive threat of violence that hangs
money for a small spread; in Ennis’s case that meant a tobacco
over Ennis and Jack’s whole relationship. At any moment, there
can with two five-dollar bills inside. That spring, hungry for any
could be a Joe Aguirre watching them, an Alma judging them, a
job, each had signed up with Farm and Ranch
nameless mob ready to beat them to death. Ennis’s realization
Employment—they came together on paper as herder and
that the spoon handle could be used as a tire iron represents
camp tender for the same sheep operation north of Signal.
how everyday objects can be weaponized in order to punish
people seen as “unnatural.” Further, beating gay men with a
traditionally masculine tool is another means of attempting to Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist, Alma Beers
punish and coerce men who are seen as not fitting into the
confines of societal ideals of masculinity. Related Themes:
Related Symbols:
QUO
QUOTES
TES
Page Number: 5
Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the
Scribner edition of Close Range: Wyoming Stories published in Explanation and Analysis
1999. When they meet on Brokeback Mountain in the summer of
1963, Jack and Ennis are still teenagers. And yet, they have
Brokeback Mountain Quotes been thrust into adulthood: they have both already been
working for years, and Ennis is engaged to Alma Beers. Both
They were raised on small, poor ranches in opposite
men have “savings,” which, as Proulx somewhat sarcastically
corners of the state, Jack Twist in Lightning Flat, up on the
points out, either don’t really exist or amount to just ten
Montana border, Ennis del Mar from around Sage, near the
dollars in a can. Thus both boys are as poor as the parents
Utah line, both high-school drop-out country boys with no
who raised them, and are desperate for work. The
prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-
government Farm and Ranch Employment program assigns
mannered, rough-spoken, inured to the stoic life.
them to work on Brokeback Mountain, which is difficult and
low-paying work, but it at least gives them food, shelter, and
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist a small wage.
Related Themes:
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis

The story begins with a comparison of its two main
characters, Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar. They are both
native to Wyoming—albeit from “opposite corners” of the
state—and were brought up in rough households, where
hard work and a lack of manners were the norm. The way
Proulx writes this passage, it appears that Jack and Ennis fit

“Forest Service got designated campsites on the
allotments. Them camps can be a couple a miles from Page Number: 9
where we pasture the sheep. Bad predator loss, nobody near
lookin after em at night. What I want—camp tender in the main Explanation and Analysis
camp where the Forest Service says, but the herder”—pointing Though Joe Aguirre’s orders mean that Jack and Ennis do
at Jack with a chop of his hand—“pitch a pup tent on the Q.T. not work together most of the time, the two men begin to
with the sheep, out a sight, and he’s goin a sleep there. Eat notice each other from across the Mountain. Ennis sees
supper, breakfast in camp, but sleep with the sheep, hundred Jack herding the sheep during the day, and Jack, who must
percent, no fire, don’t leave no sign. Roll up that tent every spend his nights alone and in darkness because a campfire
mornin case Forest Service snoops around. Got the dogs, your would leave evidence he had slept outside of the designated
.30-.30, sleep there. Last summer had goddam near twenty- campsite, sees Ennis burning a fire from far away. Though
five-percent loss. I don’t want that again. […] Tomorrow mornin the two men’s relationship has not yet become friendly, let
we’ll truck you up the jump-off.” Pair of deuces going nowhere. alone romantic, this quote shows that from the very
beginning of their time on the mountain, Ennis and Jack are
Related Characters: Joe Aguirre (speaker), Ennis del Mar, hyper-aware of and interested in one another—eager to
Jack Twist learn more.
Related Themes:
“Tell you what, you got a get up a dozen times in the night
Related Symbols: out there over them coyotes. Happy to switch but give you
warnin I can’t cook worth a shit. Pretty good with a can opener.”
Page Number: 6-7 “Can’t be no worse than me, then. Sure, I wouldn’t mind a do it.”
Explanation and Analysis They fended off the night for an hour with the yellow kerosene
Joe Aguirre is an older gruff man who has been a rancher lamp, and around ten Ennis rode Cigar Butt, a good night horse,
for a long time. He is jaded and unaccommodating of the through the glimmering frost back to the sheep, carrying
younger ranch hands who come and go, and seems irritated leftover biscuits, a jar of jam, and a jar of coffee with him for the
by having to explain how the mountain works year after next day, saying he’d save a trip, stay out until supper.
year. He does not believe he must abide by the Forest
Service’s rules, and orders Jack to sleep where he’s not Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist (speaker)
supposed to, which means he’s not allowed to light a
campfire, even for warmth. Even though he likely has a Related Themes:
background similar to the two men, he assumes
(unfortunately correctly) that they are uneducated, and Related Symbols:
have no ambitions beyond the work that is set before them:
two “deuces going nowhere.” Page Number: 10-11
During the day Ennis looked across a great gulf and After some time on the mountain, Jack starts to chafe under
sometimes saw Jack, a small dot moving across a high Aguirre’s unreasonable orders. Sleeping out with the sheep
meadow, as an insect moves across a tablecloth; Jack, in his means no campfire with which to cook food or keep warm at
dark camp, saw Ennis as night fire, a red spark on the huge night, and he must commute long hours in order to move
black mass of mountain. the sheep and pick up his supplies. He also must constantly
get up at night to scare off coyotes that want to eat the
sheep. Ennis, who has been assigned to the campsite, offers
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist to switch with Jack to relieve him of these annoyances. Jack
accepts the offer, and one hour later, Ennis rides one of the
Related Themes: horses out to the sheep. Ennis’s offer is, in retrospect, yet
another glimpse of the two men’s interest in each other.
Related Symbols: Though they don’t know each other well, this thoughtful
exchange of tasks is the beginning of a close friendship that

will soon grow into more. One night, Ennis stays up drinking and talking with Jack
until late. It’s too late and cold for him to ride back—plus,
both men are very drunk—so Jack tells him he can sleep in
his tent. The men soon become intimate and have sex. In the
They were respectful of each other’s opinions, each glad to
morning, Ennis wakes up next to Jack with his pants down.
have a companion where none had been expected. Ennis,
riding against the wind back to the sheep in the treacherous, Neither of the men acknowledge what happened, but they
drunken light, thought he’d never had such a good time, felt he both know that the rest of the summer will go like this:
staying up, drinking, talking, and singing, and being sexually
could paw the white out of the moon.
intimate. It is a testament to how close they’ve become in a
short amount of time that they can begin such an
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist unexpected and intimate relationship without even
speaking about it. But their silence is also a testament to the
Related Themes: taboo nature of their desire for one another.
Related Symbols:
Page Number: 12 There were only the two of them on the mountain, flying in
the euphoric, bitter air, looking down on the hawk’s back
Explanation and Analysis and the crawling lights of vehicles on the plain below,
The day after Jack and Ennis switch jobs, Ennis stays late in suspended above ordinary affairs and distant from tame ranch
the main campsite with Jack. They share whisky, cigarettes, dogs barking in the dark hours. They believed themselves
and stories, and tell each other more about their pasts. The invisible, not knowing Joe Aguirre had watched them through
hour grows late without either of them realizing. After his 10x42 binoculars for ten minutes one day, waiting until
Ennis offered to take Jack’s job, something shifted in their they’d buttoned up their jeans, waiting until Ennis rode back to
relationship. Now, rather than coworkers, they have the sheep, before bringing up the message that Jack’s people
become fast friends. As Ennis drunkenly rides out to the had sent word that his uncle Harold was in the hospital with
sheep, he feels delighted—he didn’t expect to find such a pneumonia and expected not to make it. Though he did, and
good friend out on the isolated Brokeback Mountain, Aguirre came up again to say so, fixing Jack with his bold stare,
especially one who was so respectful of his opinions and fun not bothering to dismount.
to be around. Though the terrain Ennis rides on is
treacherous, especially in his drunken state, he feels so Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar
connected to the Mountain that he thinks he could reach
out and touch the moon. In other words, it seems that Ennis Related Themes:
is love-struck.
Related Symbols:
Ennis woke in red dawn with his pants around his knees, a Page Number: 15
top-grade headache, and Jack butted against him; without Explanation and Analysis
saying anything about it, both knew how it would go for the rest
The mood on the mountain completely shifts once Jack and
of the summer, sheep be damned.
Ennis become intimate. Despite their workload, the men
feel free, reveling in the beauty of the mountain and their
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar desire for one another. Having been saddled with difficult
work, abusive fathers, and poverty for their whole lives,
Related Themes: they feel liberated by having found someone who cares
about them so deeply. However, this quote foreshadows the
Related Symbols: troubles that are to come. Even though they feel alone in
their intimacy, they are not: Joe Aguirre spies on them
Page Number: 14-15 having sex. He doesn’t immediately tell them that he knows
Explanation and Analysis they are lovers, but his “bold stare” as he delivers Jack the
news that his uncle is dying shows his disdain for the two

men’s actions. Here Joe Aguirre represents the judgment of When Jack and Ennis part at the end of the summer, they
society, which ultimately keeps the two men apart and leads are forced to face the inevitable: it is time to return to their
to Jack’s murder. lives, and their relationship is effectively over. Without any
concrete plans as to when they will see each other next, it
feels to Ennis like they are saying good-bye forever. He feels
Even when the numbers were right Ennis knew the sheep so sick about leaving Jack that he tries to vomit, and the
were mixed. In a disquieting way everything seemed horrible feeling lingers. He feels sick to his stomach because
he never truly confronted or acknowledged his feelings for
mixed.
Jack during the summer, and they affect him all at once as
the two men ride farther and farther away from one
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar another. Now Jack and Ennis must re-enter society, where a
relationship like the one they had on the mountain is heavily
Related Themes: stigmatized and even penalized with violence. Part of
Ennis’s sickness comes from the knowledge that what may
Related Symbols: have been the best period of his life has come to a
resounding end.
Page Number: 16

A hailstorm comes to the mountain in August, which blows “Ennis, please, no more damn lonesome ranches for us,”
the sheep herd off course, mixing them up with another she said, sitting on his lap, wrapping her thin, freckled arms
herd. Ennis and a Chilean herder who doesn’t speak English around him. “Let’s get a place here in town.”
spend five days attempting to separate them. Even when “I guess,” said Ennis… They stayed in the little apartment, which
the herd has the right number of sheep, Ennis knows that he favored because it could be left at any time.
some of them weren’t originally in his herd. The mixed-up
sheep seem to him to be a metaphor for the summer coming
Related Characters: Alma Beers, Ennis del Mar (speaker)
to an end. Soon, he and Jack will have to leave the mountain,
and he’ll go off to marry Alma Beers. Ennis’s life, like the Related Themes:
mixed-up flock of sheep, has taken a turn he never expected
it to as he has found himself caught up in a relationship that Page Number: 19
he knows he won’t want to untangle.
Alma and Ennis have two children in the few years after
“Right,” said Jack, and they shook hands, hit each other on Ennis’s summer on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis moves the
the shoulder; then there was forty feet of distance family around frequently in accordance with his ranch jobs.
between them and nothing to do but drive away in opposite Alma objects to moving so often, particularly with two
directions. Within a mile Ennis felt like someone was pulling his young daughters in tow. However, Ennis likes this way of
guts out hand over hand a yard at a time. He stopped at the side life. Ranching is all he has ever known, and he has no desire
of the road and, in the whirling new snow, tried to puke but to pursue any other career. He likes having a small
nothing came up. He felt about as bad as he ever had and it took apartment that he can move out of at a moment’s notice.
a long time for the feeling to wear off. Besides being convenient for his ranching jobs, it also means
that, should an opportunity arise for him to be closer to
Jack, he would not have too much difficulty moving.
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar
However, for all his wishes to have a carefree life that allows
Related Themes: him to move as he pleases, Ennis is quite devoted to his
family and his responsibilities. He has been raised to believe
that men prove their manhood by marrying a woman and
Related Symbols:
having children. To leave his family would be to place himself
Page Number: 18 even farther out on the fringes of society. Even when he and
Alma divorce, he remains committed to paying child support

“Friend,” said Jack. “We got us a fuckin situation here. Got
and contributing to his daughters’ upbringing. a figure out what to do.”
“I doubt there’s nothin now we can do,” said Ennis. “What I’m
sayin, Jack, I built a life up in them years. Love my little girls.
They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, Alma? It ain’t her fault. You got your baby and wife, that place in
squeezing the breath out of each other, saying son of a Texas. You and me can’t hardly be decent together if what
bitch, son of a bitch; then, and as easily as the right key turns happened back there”—he jerked his head in the direction of
the lock tumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s the apartment—“grabs” on us like that. We do that in the wrong
big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble place we’ll be dead. There’s no reins on this one. It scares the
rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma piss out a me.”
looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s straining shoulders and
shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar, Jack Twist (speaker),
and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other’s
Alma Jr. and Francine, Alma Beers
toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on
endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, Related Themes:
“Little darlin.”
Page Number: 26-27
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar (speaker), Jack Twist,
Alma Beers
When Jack and Ennis are in the motel room during their
Related Themes: first reunion, they realize how badly they have missed one
another. Jack wants them to figure out some way to be
Page Number: 21 together, but Ennis tells him that’s not possible. Besides the
responsibilities he has at home, he knows that another
Explanation and Analysis passionate display like the one in front of Alma could lead to
After four years apart from Ennis, Jack sends word that he’ll them being murdered if it happens in front of the wrong
be passing through Riverton. The two men make plans to people. And yet, he acknowledges, “there’s no reins on this
meet. When they finally reunite, a warm embrace quickly one.” In other words, just because they know their
turns passionate: the men kiss, and Alma witnesses their homosexuality is stigmatized by society doesn’t mean they
display of affection from the door. Even though Ennis has can stop feeling the way they do. But Ennis’s fear of violence
become used to his life with Alma and his daughters, seeing outweighs his desire to live with Jack as a couple.
Jack again makes him realize how much his life has been
missing without his old lover in it. Even though there is a risk
Alma or his daughters might witness their embrace—and
“Dad made sure I seen it. Took me to see it. Me and K.E.
Alma does witness it—Ennis cannot help himself, and pours
Dad laughed about it. Hell, for all I know he done the job. If
how much he has missed Jack over the last four years into
he was alive and was to put his head in that door right now you
this kiss. He uses his pet term of endearment, “Little darlin,”
bet he’d go get his tire iron. Two guys livin together? No. All I
for Jack, showing that he feels love for Jack. It is in this
can see is we get together once in a while way the hell out in the
moment of reunion that both men realize how difficult it has
back a nowhere—”
been to be apart, and how difficult it will be to say goodbye
again.
Related Characters: Ennis del Mar (speaker), Jack Twist
Related Themes:
Related Symbols:
Page Number: 30

Ennis tells Jack the story of Earl and Rich, two local

ranchers who lived together near Ennis when he was young. jobs he wants without guilt, and take more time away to be
A gang of gay-hating men murdered Earl. He was beaten to with Jack.
death with a tire iron, and Ennis’s father made sure his son
saw the mutilated corpse. In this quote, Ennis surmises his
father was likely one of the men that killed Earl. He even
“Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means.
supposes that if his father saw Jack and Ennis together in Jack Twist? Jack Nasty. You and him—”
the hotel room, that he would kill the two of them as well.
He refuses Jack’s suggestion that they live together She’d overstepped his line. He seized her wrist and twisted;
because he is afraid they will end up like Earl and Rich. To tears sprang and rolled, a dish clattered.
preserve their physical safety and good standing in society, “Shut up,” he said. “Mind your own business. You don’t know
Ennis says that the only way he can see them being together nothin about it.”
is to spend time together every so often on trips away from
their families. Though the two men desire each other, Ennis
Related Characters: Alma Beers, Ennis del Mar (speaker),
knows he has a responsibility to his family, and it would be
Jack Twist
no good if either of them were to die in pursuit of their love
for each other. Related Themes:
Page Number: 33
Her resentment opened out a little every year: the
embrace she had glimpsed, Ennis’s fishing trips once or
twice a year with Jack Twist and never a vacation with her and When Ennis attends a tense Thanksgiving dinner at Alma’s
the girls, his disinclination to step out and have any fun, his home with her new husband, Alma accuses Ennis of being in
yearning for low-paid, long-houred ranch work, his propensity a relationship with Jack. Ennis has never been accused of
to roll to the wall and sleep as soon as he hit the bed, his failure being gay or discussed his sexuality with anyone but Jack,
to look for a decent permanent job with the county or the and he becomes angry. This anger is the manifestation of his
power company put her in a long, slow dive, and when Alma, Jr., deep-seated fear of the physical violence he might be
was nine and Francine seven she said, What am I doin, hangin subjected to at the hands of homophobes, like Earl had been
around with him, divorced Ennis, and married the Riverton years before. Attempting to assert his dominance over his
grocer. ex-wife, he hurts Alma. He does this to try to intimidate her
out of mentioning anything to other people. As Ennis has
recently lost his family, and still cannot live with Jack, he
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar, Alma Beers must cling to whatever relationship he has to society. If he
were to be ostracized as a gay man, he would be vulnerable
Related Themes: to violence, unemployment, and alienation from society.
Page Number: 31-32
Explanation and Analysis You got no fuckin idea how bad it gets. I’m not you. I can’t
There is a shift in Alma and Ennis’s marriage once Jack make it on a couple a high-altitude fucks once or twice a
comes back into Enniss’ life. The passionate kiss she year. You’re too much for me, Ennis, you son of a whoreson
witnessed between them, coupled with the weeks he takes bitch. I wish I knew how to quit you.”
off to spend time with Jack, tips Alma off to the fact that
Jack and Ennis are likely lovers. Further frustrated by his
Related Characters: Jack Twist (speaker), Ennis del Mar
inclination for low-paying work that doesn’t make ends
meet, Alma decides that her life is going nowhere as long as Related Themes:
she is married to Ennis. As her girls age, she decides she
needs to make a better life for them, as well as for herself. Page Number: 42
Marrying the grocer gives her stability and a chance to start
her life over with a new man who shows her more Explanation and Analysis
appreciation. Though Ennis is saddened over the loss of his In 1983, Jack and Ennis spend a few days at a lake. Here,
children, in a way, his divorce frees him: he can work the they are discussing what to do about their relationship, a

The old man spoke angrily. “I can’t get no help out here.
perennial issue that they have not been able to fully solve Jack used a say, ‘Ennis del Mar,’ he used a say, ‘I’m goin a
for two decades. They both desire one another, but societal bring him up here one a these days and we’ll lick this damn
stigma and personal responsibilities have kept them apart, ranch into shape.’ He had some half-baked idea the two a you
barring a few weeks a year that they are able to sneak away was goin a move up here, build a log cabin, and help me run this
from their lives. In this quote, Jack explodes at Ennis—he ranch and bring it up. Then this spring he’s got another one’s
hates that he can only see him a few times a year. To him, it goin a come up here with him and build a place and help run the
seems that Ennis is OK with them spending most of their ranch, some ranch neighbor a his from down in Texas. He’s goin
time apart, but Jack’s desire is such that it is killing him to be a split up with his wife and come back here. So he says. But like
away from Ennis for so long. He wishes that he knew how to most a Jack’s ideas it never come to pass.”
“quit” Ennis, or to stop loving him, but after two decades, he
knows his love for Ennis will never go away. He hates how
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar
much he loves Ennis, and in a way, he hates Ennis for making
life so difficult for him. But ultimately, his true desire is to be
Related Themes:
with Ennis in a couple, and to see him every day.
Related Symbols:
It was Lureen and she said who? who is this? and when he Page Number: 49
told her again she said in a level voice yes, Jack was
pumping up a flat on the truck out on a back road when the tire Explanation and Analysis
blew up. The bead was damaged somehow and the force of the This quote confirms for Ennis that Jack has likely been
explosion slammed the rim into his face, broke his nose and jaw murdered with a tire iron for being gay. Jack’s father angrily
and knocked him unconscious on his back. By the time someone reveals that Jack had spoken about Ennis for years, talking
came along he had drowned in his own blood. about the two of them moving into a ranch together. He
No, he thought, they got him with the tire iron. even said that he was going to leave his wife to start this
new life with Ennis. He implies that he knows Jack and Ennis
were lovers, and Ennis can only assume that other people
Related Characters: Jack Twist, Lureen, Ennis del Mar knew this, too, and that Jack may have even had other
lovers, as his father implies here that he did. While Ennis
Related Themes:
was reserved in his homosexuality due to the trauma he had
endured as a child when he saw Earl’s corpse, Jack did not
Related Symbols: have the same reservations and was freer in his sexuality.
Though this made him braver and more true to who he was,
Page Number: 45 it ultimately led to his death, and in a way, a part of Ennis
Explanation and Analysis died along with Jack.
Ennis is utterly shocked when he finds out Jack has died. As
Lureen notes, she had no way of contacting Ennis
immediately in the wake of the murder. Yet as he hears in He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly
her voice, he surmises that Lureen knew that the two were through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke
lovers, and was maybe less inclined, because of this, to tell and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack, but there was
Ennis what had happened even if she had known his contact no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of
information. Further, Ennis can tell from the tone of her Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he
voice that the story he tells her of Jack’s death is a held in his hands.
fabricated one. The fact that she mentions a tire implies to
Ennis that Jack died in a similar manner to Earl: he was Related Characters: Jack Twist, Ennis del Mar
murdered with a tire iron. In this passage, Ennis’s worst
fears of violence have come true. Related Themes:
Related Symbols:

Page Number: 52 Related Characters: Ennis del Mar
Explanation and Analysis Related Themes:

Ennis is overcome with emotion when he finds the two
Page Number: 55
shirts, one with Jack’s blood, and the other which used to
belong to Ennis. It shows to Ennis that Jack must have felt Explanation and Analysis
the same way that he did when they left the mountain after Ennis resumes his solitary life, but dreams frequently about
their summer together. He inhales the shirt with the hopes Jack. These dreams make him feel both aroused and
of being transported back to the mountain. However, he miserable. They are all he has left of his love. As this quote
knows that all he has left of that summer and his love of shows, he still can’t quite believe Jack is gone: if he hadn’t
Jack is held in his hands—and in his head, in the form of his received the news from Lureen, it might have been the same
memories. The shirts—which would be meaningless as as if it was just a bit of time between their last meeting and
symbols to anyone else—show Ennis how much Jack loved their next. Yet as he knows from inhaling the smell of the
him. shirts and trying to transport himself back to the mountain,
time can’t be turned back, and there’s no use wishing about
what could have been. All he can do is cherish his mementos
There was some open space between what he knew and and his memories, dust himself off, and live his life grieving
what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about for the man who died too young because of whom he loved.
it, and if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.

SUMMARY AND ANAL

ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist are both born poor and raised on Jack and Ennis are born to poor ranchers in Wyoming. The fact that
small ranches on opposite sides of Wyoming, sometime in the neither boy receives a complete education means that they, like
midst of the Second World War. Ennis’s parents die when he’s their parents, face lives of difficult, low-paying manual labor. Ennis
young, so his older brother and sister raise him. He wanted to once hoped to continue his education but had his hopes dashed,
finish high school, but when his pick-up truck breaks down and signaling how difficult it is to escape from rural poverty.
there’s no money to fix it, he has no way to make it to school
and has to drop out. Jack, too, drops out of school when he’s
young to work on his parents’ ranch in Lightning Flat, Wyoming.
Jack and Ennis meet for the first time in the summer of 1963, As neither Jack nor Ennis finished high school, both of them have
before either of them has reached the age of 20. They have been working ranching jobs around Wyoming for several years. They
both signed up with Farm and Ranch Employment to work as are still teenagers when they leave home to work on an isolated
herders and camp tenders on Brokeback Mountain. Jack mountain with people they’ve never met in the summer of 1963.
worked on the mountain the summer prior; this summer is Even though they are both young, they have a lot of life under their
Ennis’s first. When they meet, Ennis has recently been engaged belts: Jack has worked on the mountain already, and Ennis is
to Alma Beers. engaged to be married.
They are introduced in the presence of their boss, Joe Aguirre, Jack and Ennis are first introduced while receiving herding
who instructs Ennis to be the camp tender and Jack to be the instructions from their boss, Joe Aguirre. Joe’s orders (for Jack to
herder. He tells Jack to go and sleep with the sheep to protect sleep with the sheep) mean that the men will be working largely
them from wolves and thieves at night. This is against the rules alone on an isolated mountain. Aguirre is an older, jaded rancher
of the Forest Service, so he’s not allowed to leave any trace of who thinks Jack and Ennis seem stupid and ambitionless.
his presence, including remnants of any campfire. Joe is
unimpressed with the two men, thinking to himself that they
are a “pair of deuces going nowhere.”
Jack and Ennis head to a bar, where they get to know each As two inductees of the Mountain, Jack and Ennis get to know each
other. Jack tells Ennis about a lightning storm the summer prior other a bit before heading out to their respective campsites. Though
that killed forty-two sheep. Jack is described as a small man the narrator initially described the men as having similar
with curly hair and buckteeth, who loved bull riding and was backgrounds, here readers learn more about their different physical
desperate to get away from his hometown of Lightning Flat. appearances, inner traits, and desires.
Ennis is described a tall, muscular man with a narrow face who
has quick reflexes and is farsighted.
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Jack provides Ennis with more tips for surviving the mountain, Jack is relatively more knowledgeable about the mountain, as he
such as how to pack the mules, and to never order the soup. worked there the summer prior, and eagerly shares what he knows
They collect their horses, dogs, and supplies and head out to with Ennis, a newbie. The men won’t get to know too much about
the camps. Ordered by Aguirre to set up their camps in each other for some time, as they work and sleep in separate parts
different locations to protect the sheep, Jack and Ennis watch of the mountain. However, the fact that they watch one another
each other as small, colorful dots from across the mountain. work shows that they’re both interested in learning more.
One day Jack complains about his four-hour commute to and Jack clearly has the less desirable job; however, Ennis offers to take
from his campsite out with the sheep. Ennis offers to switch it off his hands in order to relieve Jack of some of its annoyances.
jobs with him, but Jack insists it’s more about the This exchange of responsibilities show that Ennis feels kindly for
principle—they both should be allowed to sleep at the main Jack, and it is the beginning of a relationship that will develop
camp. Still, he allows Ennis to take his place that night. quickly into a romance.
The next day, the two men stay up late by the fire, drinking and Once Ennis takes over Jack’s job and the men establish that they
getting to know one another—sharing stories about their can be more than just coworkers, they become fast friends. Ennis
families, ranches they’ve worked on, dogs they’ve owned, and stays at Jack’s campsite until late into the night and the men bond
experiences with the military. When Ennis finally rides out to over their pasts. Even where they differ, they are respectful of one
the sheep, he realizes he’s probably never had such a good time another. Ennis has found companionship unlike he’s ever had
with someone else. before.
As the summer wears on, the men continue to spend time Jack and Ennis grow much closer as the summer wears on. Even
together late into the night, sharing a fire, songs, a flask of though Ennis has taken up Jack’s job out with the sheep, he
whiskey. One night, when they’re both drunk, Jack says it’s too frequently stays up late in the campsite in order to spend time with
late for Ennis to ride back out to sleep with the sheep. Ennis Jack. The fact that neither man feels the need to discuss their sexual
falls asleep on the floor, and Jack wakes up to his snoring, encounter suggests that it seems to be the logical progression of
insisting he’ll be quieter on the bedroll, which is big enough for their growing closeness. However, it also suggests that they perhaps
the two of them. Almost as soon as the two men get into the feel unable to discuss what happened openly, as though even
bedroll together, they begin to have sex. Ennis wakes in the acknowledging their attraction to one another privately would be
morning with his pants around his ankles, Jack sleeping up too taboo, and perhaps even endangering.
against him. Without exchanging any words, both men know
that their emotional and sexual intimacy will continue through
the rest of the summer.
The men commence their summer relationship. They feel safe The mood of both men completely changes when they commence
in the solitude of the mountain. They never discuss their their relationship: they are buoyant, and the mountain has never
relationship, except for one brief exchange in which they both been more beautiful. The men still don’t discuss their relationship,
insist that they aren’t “queers.” One day, Joe Aguirre watches partially due to the self-evident nature of their desire for one
them have sex through binoculars. He subsequently treats Jack another, and partially because they fear the label “gay.” Joe Aguirre
coldly when he delivers the news that Jack’s uncle is dying. spies on the men, foreshadowing the watchful judgement the men
will face from society at large for the next 20 years.

One night in August, Ennis spends the night with Jack in the Ennis and Jack continue their relationship throughout the summer.
main camp. A hailstorm sets the sheep off course and they get When the sheep become mixed up with another herd, it seems to be
mixed up with another herd, and prove very difficult to a metaphor for Ennis’s life at the moment: everything is mixed up,
separate. Snow arrives early on the mountain in mid-August, and distinctions he once took for granted now seem impossible to
and Aguirre calls for them to bring the herd down. Aguirre pays draw.
the men for their summer work, noticing that some of the
sheep are different.
When Jack and Ennis part ways after coming down from the Jack and Ennis never discussed their relationship, leaving the nature
mountain, they do not make plans to see each other again. of their bond indeterminate. Thus, they part ways without making
Ennis is going off to marry Alma, and Jack may be pulled into any plans to see each other again. Perhaps they sense that their
the military draft. Ennis finds it hard to look at the bruise Jack relationship as they know it cannot continue in the “real world,”
has on his face from a punch he threw. When they say goodbye, both because they already have obligations and because it would be
Ennis is overcome with stomach pain so strong he thinks it is very dangerous. Ennis’s sickness is a physical manifestation of his
food poisoning. Soon he realizes that his agony is due to his heartache over being separated from Jack.
sudden separation from Jack.
Ennis marries Alma in December, and she is pregnant by After leaving the mountain, Ennis carries on with life just as
January. They name their daughter Alma Jr. Ennis works a planned: he has a wife, two children, and a variety of ranching jobs.
series of ranch jobs, frequently moving his wife and daughter. This seems to be the only way of life available to Ennis. When Jack
After four summers away from the mountain, Ennis receives a sends word that he’ll be in town, Ennis jumps at the chance to see
telegram from Jack, postmarked from Texas. Jack says he has his old lover. Even though he has been somewhat fulfilled by Alma,
heard Ennis is in Riverton, and that he would be passing Alma Jr., and Francine, Jack is the only person who has ever truly
through and wanted to come say hello. Ennis replies, “you bet.” made Ennis happy.
When Jack comes into town, Ennis is nervous and puts on his Jack and Ennis waste no time having a passionate and intimate
best clothes. When Jack arrives, the men embrace, and before reunion. Though Ennis has felt secure in his family life for the past
they know what is happening, they are kissing passionately. four years, seeing Jack makes him realize how much he has missed
Alma, standing in the doorway, sees the whole encounter. the passion that they shared on the mountain. Ennis knows Alma
When Ennis finally turns to see her there, he makes no has seen him kiss Jack, but he does not attempt to make up an
explanation, simply introducing her to Jack. Within twenty excuse, suggesting he feels little emotional responsibility to his wife.
minutes, the two men find themselves in a local motel, where It is this moment that is the beginning of the end for Alma and
they spend the night together. Ennis’s marriage, and it also marks the beginning of a 16-year
sporadic affair between Jack and Ennis.

The men catch up regarding the last four years. Jack had Both Jack and Ennis have spent the last four years doing what
moved to Texas and married a wealthy woman, Lureen, whose society has told them men their age should do: find a woman, get
father owned a farm machinery business. He competed in some married, have children, and get a job. Yet their passionate reunion
rodeos, but had to quit due to injuries. Jack wants to find a way shows them that something has been missing from their lives:
for them to see each other more often, but Ennis points out passion, and arguably love. Their time together is bittersweet
that he has responsibilities: to his work, to his daughter, to because they know it’s fleeting. They both have responsibilities at
Alma. Further, he’s scared that if the wrong people find out home, and to be together in any official capacity would mean
about their homosexual relationship, they’ll be beaten, or even bearing the stigma associated with being gay in rural Wyoming. It
murdered. Jack declines to tell Ennis that Joe Aguirre revealed could even get them killed.
to him that he knew about their relationship, and refused to
hire him for the following summer on Brokeback Mountain.
Jack proposes that the men start a ranch together. Ennis Ennis’ fear of being killed due to his homosexuality has been
refuses, telling him the story of Earl and Rich. They were two ingrained in him from a young age. His father was homophobic, and
men who lived on a ranch together near where Ennis grew up. likely contributed to the murder of Earl. Jack and Ennis’s love for
Ennis’s father often made disparaging comments about them, each other is in direct conflict with what society expects of them,
insinuating that it was presumed they were gay. One day, Earl and what society will tolerate. They have no answers as to what to
was brutally murdered with a tire iron and mutilated, and do with each other because their society has only provided them
Ennis’s father took his young son to see the body as a way of with one model for how to live. If they did want to live together, their
teaching him a lesson. This memory has traumatized Ennis, and only option would be to live like Earl and Rich, which could easily
he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him and Jack. The result in death. Ultimately, they make the decision that preserves
men are left at a loss with what to do for their desire for each their home lives and physical safety, while reconciling their desire by
other, which stands in direct contrast to what society and their agreeing to meet a few times a year. This is how many gay men and
families expect of them. Jack finally convinces Ennis to take a women lived in this time, fulfilling their illicit desires furtively on the
few days away from home to spend time with him. side while maintaining “normal” lives.
As the years wear on, Alma and Ennis have another daughter. Now that he has rekindled his love with Jack, Ennis is not as
The couple begins to grow apart, as Ennis steals away for interested in intimacy with Alma. Alma puts two and two together,
weeks at a time to be with Jack, while Alma is left wondering and reasons that Ennis is having a relationship with Jack when he
why he doesn’t take her and the girls on vacation. She tires of goes on “fishing trips.” Stuck in a dead-end grocery job with a
his predilection to take work with long hours and low pay, and husband who ignores her, Alma decides to take matters into her
gets a job at the grocery store. Eventually, she divorces Ennis own hands by leaving Ennis, taking her daughters with her, and
and marries the owner of the grocery store. marrying the grocer. He gives her more stability, attention, and
another child, allowing her to start her life afresh.
At a Thanksgiving at the grocer’s house, Ennis does his best to Ennis is alarmed at being accused of homosexuality and reacts
show that he isn’t upset by the divorce or that his daughters violently. He has never discussed his sexuality with anyone but Jack.
live with Alma. But when he and Alma are alone and she His fear manifests as anger as he hurts Alma. He becomes so upset
accuses him of being in a relationship with Jack, he grabs her at these accusations that he walks out of his daughters’ lives for
out of anger. He doesn’t see Alma or his daughters for several years, demonstrating that he finds it difficult to confront the truth of
years after that, though he continues to pay child support. his sexuality, perhaps because of the shame he carries as a result of
internalized homophobia.

Jack and Ennis continue to see each other over the years. They Jack and Ennis make their relationship work, however fractured, by
age, but their desire for each other is stronger than ever. In finding time when they can to see each other. They boast about
May 1983, 20 years after they first met on Brokeback women they are sleeping with, but the subtext of their conversations
Mountain, they spend a few days by a lake. They speak about is that they really wish they were with each other more often. Here,
women they are sleeping with and their concerns about their as elsewhere in the story, displays of exaggerated heterosexual
children. They both feel that they never have enough time masculinity are shown to be attempts to cover up for a deficit of
together. love or an unfulfilled longing.
They fight over when they will see each other next; Jack had The two men both want to be together, but Ennis continually
thought they would next be together in August, but Ennis says pushes Jack away when Jack suggests they start a ranch together or
he can’t get off work until November. Jack tries to convince elope to Mexico. He, unlike Jack, saw Earl’s mutilated corpse: he
Ennis to elope to Mexico with him, but Ennis cites his knows all too well what kind of price they could pay if they were
responsibilities towards work and child support. They are left found out. Though they are both angry with one another for what
without a resolution as to how to make their relationship work has been said, they are more angry with the situation in which they
better. They hold each other through the night. find themselves, which neither of them can fully control, and take
advantage of what little time they can spend together.
Months later, Ennis sends a postcard to Jack, and it is returned Ennis’s worst fears come true when he learns that Jack has been
marked “DECEASED.” Unable to believe it, Ennis calls Jack’s murdered at the hands of homophobes in a manner similar to the
wife, Lureen, who confirms that Jack was changing a tire when murder of Earl. He surmises this from Lureen’s story based on the
it blew up and hit him in the face. He drowned in his own blood tone of her voice. It is bittersweet that Jack wanted his ashes spread
before help arrived. Based on the tone of her voice, Ennis on Brokeback Mountain: it shows that it was as important a period
surmises that there is more to his death, and that it is likely he in his life as it was for Ennis. To Ennis, of course, this news is nothing
was murdered in a similar manner to Earl, with a tire iron. but tragic: even though he refused Jack’s proposals that they live
Lureen tells Ennis that Jack had always wanted his ashes to be together for the last 20 years with the idea that they would be safer,
scattered on Brokeback Mountain. When he died, she kept Jack ended up being murdered in the same way Earl was anyway.
half of his ashes and gave the other half to his parents.
Ennis goes to visit Jack’s parents in Lightning Flat, Wyoming. Though Ennis has known Jack for two decades, this is the first time
Jack’s mother is kind to him, but his father is cruel, insinuating he has met his parents. Jack’s father is exactly as described: similar
that he knew Ennis and Jack were lovers. He refuses to give to Ennis’s father in that he is hyper-masculine, abusive, and cruel.
Ennis the other half of the ashes, saying that they will be buried Ennis realizes that Jack’s parents already know all about him, as
in an ancestral burial ground. Ennis recalls an anecdote Jack Jack had been speaking to them about him for years. Jack’s father’s
told him about his father. Once, when Jack was three or four, he unkindness towards him confirms for Ennis that Jack was more
didn’t make it to the toilet in time, and Jack’s father urinated on open in his sexuality than Ennis was, and that this was what
him in an attempt to both humiliate the little boy and teach him ultimately led to his murder. He feels overcome with emotion when
a lesson. Ennis looks around Jack’s childhood bedroom, where he discovers his own shirt nested inside Jack’s. He wants to use the
he finds two shirts that Jack wore on Brokeback Mountain. shirts to transport him back to that summer, but it doesn’t work. He
One of these shirts has blood on it, from the last day on the must resign himself to loving Jack’s memories and these mementos,
mountain when Ennis hit Jack on the nose. Nested inside this and grieve for the loss of his life’s great love.
shirt is another shirt: Ennis’s. Ennis had lost the shirt long ago,
and he now realizes Jack had taken it. Ennis takes both of the
shirts home with him.

Ennis buys a postcard of Brokeback Mountain and pins it up in Ennis resumes his quiet, solitary life as a rancher. He creates a kind
his trailer. He hangs the shirts up alongside the postcard. He of shrine for Jack, and is both pleased and tortured by seeing young
frequently dreams about Jack, and resigns himself to mourning Jack in his dreams. The ending is both beautiful and tragic: Ennis
what could have been. had the fortune of knowing deep love in his life, but he knows it is
lost to him forever.

To cite any of the quotes from Brokeback Mountain covered in the

HOW T
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To cite this LitChart: MLA
MLA Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. Scribner. 1999.
Munk, Olivia. "Brokeback Mountain." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 1 CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
May 2018. Web. 21 Apr 2020.
Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. New York: Scribner. 1999.
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
Munk, Olivia. "Brokeback Mountain." LitCharts LLC, May 1, 2018.
Retrieved April 21, 2020. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/
brokeback-mountain.

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TIRE IRON into a stereotype of poor rancher boys from Wyoming,

Explanation and Analysis

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Explanation and Analysis

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Explanation and Analysis

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Explanation and Analysis

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Page Number: 52 Related Characters: Ennis del Mar

Explanation and Analysis Related Themes:

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SUMMARY AND ANAL

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To cite any of the quotes from Brokeback Mountain covered in the

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