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JACK & ENNIS: DID THEY KISS?
In her 1997 short story, Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx unfolded the tragic lives of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist through a series of flashbacks which roll out from the opening prologue. Much of the information the reader learns about these two men is withheld until the "right" moment; this moment usually coincides with the time when one or other of the characters comes to understand the significance of the memory. Because of this withholding of vital pieces of information, a reader is encouraged to fill in the gaps with his or her own expectations or wishes, until the truth is revealed. The last few pages of the story are a cascade of revelations and false climaxes which leave both reader and characters shattered, their illusions in tatters.
One of the most startling revelations is that, in the early part of their sexual relationship while they were still on Brokeback Mountain, Ennis would not embrace Jack face to face due to his own homophobia. The implications of this fact colour much of the story, but for many readers they are unpalatable and unnecessary "overlays" on a story which is already tragic enough.
The 2005 Ang Lee film made subtle changes to the arc of the original story; one of these was the addition of a kissing scene which helped to cement the existence of this activity between Jack and Ennis in the minds of most viewers. However, a careful reading of the original story shows that a strong case can be made for the assertion that Annie Proulx included material which leads to a "No Kiss" conclusion. This material is detailed below. It utilises direct narrative, symbolism, allegory and story structure. Interpretations of the meaning of passages, as they relate to the "No Kiss" theory, are given in italics.
It should be noted that many people remain vehemently unconvinced of the idea that they did not kiss while on the mountain, and even those of us who believe it, came to this conclusion at different times and in different ways. Annie Proulx says a story is not finished until it has been read; perhaps those who believe Jack and Ennis did not kiss are reading too much into it, or perhaps those who believe they did are not reading enough. No doubt we each have our individual reasons for our stances.
***
* The story opens with a prologue in which Ennis del Mar, now an aging man living alone, recalls the time with Jack Twist "when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong".
Use of the word "seemed" rather than, say, "was", sets up a false impression in the reader's mind which then colours the interpretation of much of the rest of the story.
* Once the story proper commences, in the summer of 1963, the first sexual encounter is described thus: "... he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he'd touched fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him." There is no talking during the entire act, apart from Jack's orgasmic "Gun's goin off!", and no tender intimacy.
Ennis instinctively rejects the sign of Jack's obvious masculinity, giving a non-verbal warning that he does not want to acknowledge it, and chooses to have sex in a way that he finds less confronting, i.e. where he doesn't have to see or touch Jack's genitals, and in a position which can be done with a woman as well as a man. Proulx employs a simile "as though he'd touched fire" which implies an action of self-preservation. However, while Ennis's actions on this occasion may seem a little abrupt and disconcerting, there is no real reason to question his motives at this point.
Teasingly, Proulx introduces the above episode by saying that in the tent on this cold night “…they deepened their intimacy considerably.” This may be simply a foreshadowing of what is to come, or a description of some “acceptable” straight behaviour such as the beginning of a shared masturbation session, or perhaps some kissing and cuddling; the line is, it appears, deliberately vague.
* From then on, although their friendship continues unabated, they say nothing both during and about the sex (with one exception, see below) but both know "how it would go ... as it did go".
This indicates that the type of sexual activity does not essentially change although the frequency and locations increase, as described by "... at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot sun striking down, and at evening in the fire glow". Proulx lets us assume that their sexual activities improve and expand after their rather unpromising start.
* The exception to the lack of talking is Ennis's unexplained comment during one sexual episode, "I'm not no queer", to which Jack quickly responds with, "Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody's business but ours."
While it may be that Ennis spontaneously utters this comment as a way of reinforcing his straight persona in both his and Jack's eyes, we are able to see later that this is part of a pattern of action (Jack) and reaction (Ennis), so the likely explanation for Ennis's remark is that Jack tries some action e.g. a kiss or another attempt to get Ennis to touch his penis, and is given a verbal warning.
* On the last afternoon of their sheep-herding summer on Brokeback Mountain, Ennis punches Jack on the jaw, although the reason for this violence is not revealed until later.
We learn almost at the end of the story that the punch comes about after Jack has kneed Ennis in the nose during "their contortionistic grappling and wrestling", which is highly likely to be part of their sexual activities, given that we have not been told elsewhere that they indulge in such behaviour for its own sake; the sexual nature of this wrestling is further supported by indications that they may both have been naked or semi-naked at the time. (If their sexual activity is restricted, then it is possible that an “acceptable” action like wrestling could function as wordless foreplay.) Although Ennis has very fast reflexes and is a natural fighter, he does not punch Jack until Jack attempts to staunch the resulting nosebleed, using his own shirtsleeve. In other words, Ennis is not reacting violently to his injury but to Jack's ministerings. This ministering would most likely be done with Jack facing Ennis and being up close, displaying concern.
* After a four year separation they meet again, and in the midst of a full-bodied embrace they kiss, a kiss which is described in great detail. The embrace and kiss are accompanied by a lock-and-key simile - "They ... hugged mightily ... then, and easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together ..."
Its placement indicates that the hug is the right key which unlocks the kiss, and that kissing is a new activity, since there is no corresponding metaphor at the end of summer 1963 to indicate that anything has been locked down. In fact, there are many references to both of them thinking about the other and hoping for a continuation of the relationship. This simile also dovetails nicely with the description of their first sexual act when Ennis does "... nothing he'd done before, but no instruction manual needed." In other words, both the first sex and the first kiss are things which come naturally to him when the right stimuli are present.
* We are shown their significant milestones - the first physical contact (a handshake on the day they meet), their first sexual contact, their first and last fights, and their reunion after four years, yet we are not shown their first kiss, an important feature of any loving relationship.
That is, we are not shown it if it occurred on the mountain. However, if they did not kiss there, then the reunion kiss is the first one and we have it fully described as befits such a breakthrough moment.
* During the kiss Jack's big buck teeth "bring blood".
This description has an immediate connotation of breaking through Ennis's "mouth barrier", in the way a hymen is broken. He can now kiss Jack and also he is now able to speak about the sex, which he did not do on the mountain. A further connection with the kiss occurs later. See below.
* During the hours they spend at a motel after they reunite, Ennis explains a little about why he punched Jack, while not revealing the full truth. He also explains about the death of an old gay rancher he knew as a child, but once again it is only a partial explanation.
Jack and the reader are fooled into thinking that Ennis's reluctance to be with Jack is driven by fear alone, not fear and shame.
* After Ennis’s divorce, when Jack begins to understand that it is more than his marriage which has held him back from living with Jack, Jack gets his teeth filed down and capped, and he also begins to see other men while on his buying trips.
He is coming to realise that the apparent forward movement of the reunion is no such thing. There have been no more sexless Dozy Embraces (although we don't know about the Dozy Embrace at this stage) and it seems that the opening up of sexuality after the reunion has resulted in a loss of potential tender sexless intimacy, as shown just once in the Dozy Embrace. So Jack symbolically withdraws the reunion kiss by withdrawing the teeth that injured and "opened up" Ennis. He also grows a moustache to hide his mouth and tells Ennis he "felt no pain".
* Their last trip to the mountains in May 1983 begins with an allegorical retelling of their entire relationship. The trail they follow seems to be their life together, their relationship. "Going up, the day was fine but the trail deep-drifted and slopping wet at the margins"
This correlates to the time on the mountain in 1963 "when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong", yet the trail they are on is narrow and constricted, that deep-drifting snow keeping them on a path that allows no wandering, i.e. restricting them to the type of sex described in their first encounter. Snow and water appear to be images which apply to Ennis's emotions, which he tries to keep locked up in the cold north by always meeting Jack in the cold of the Wyoming mountains, whereas Jack is trying to get them down to the warm south, to Mexico, to sexual freedom.
* They return to the trail later: "... they swung through a narrow pass to a southeast slope where the strong spring sun had had a chance to work, dropped down to the trail again which lay snowless below them."
This correlates to the reunion. The trail is snowless after Ennis's four years of trying to work out about himself, and missing Jack desperately. In that time he has reached an accommodation about himself which allows him to have full sexual relations with Jack while still denying his own sexuality. Thus they are no longer confined to that previous narrow trail with its limited room to move, i.e. they are no longer restricted sexually.
* In the last argument, Jack reveals that he has been seeing other men and Ennis responds with something suspiciously like a death threat, certainly a clear warning to Jack not to say anything more: "I got a say this to you one time, Jack, and I ain't foolin. What I don't know, all them things I don't know could get you killed if I should come to know them."
Jack has not properly understood the non-verbal warning (Ennis's withdrawal of his hand at the start of their first sexual encounter), the verbal warning ("I'm not no queer"), the punch after Jack tends to his nosebleed, the explanation of the punch which Ennis gives at the reunion ("Nothin like hurtin somebody to make him hear good"), or the significance of the story of the dead rancher which Ennis also tells him at the reunion.
* Finally we reach the Dozy Embrace, a flashback to the summer of 1963, when it is revealed that Ennis would not then embrace Jack face to face because of his refusal to admit he was holding a man. Given the significance of the passage it's worth quoting in full.
What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger.
They had stood that way for a long time in front of the fire, its burning tossing ruddy chunks of light, the shadow of their bodies a single column against the rock. The minutes ticked by from the round watch in Ennis's pocket, from the sticks in the fire settling into coals. Stars bit through the wavy heat layers above the fire. Ennis's breath came slow and quiet, he hummed, rocked a little in the sparklight and Jack leaned against the steady heartbeat, the vibrations of the humming like faint electricity and, standing, he fell into sleep that was not sleep but something else drowsy and tranced until Ennis, dredging up a rusty but still useable phrase from the childhood time before his mother died, said, "Time to hit the hay, cowboy. I got a go. Come on, you're sleepin on your feet like a horse," and gave Jack a shake, a push, and went off in the darkness. Jack heard his spurs tremble as he mounted, the words "see you tomorrow," and the horse's shuddering snort, grind of hoof on stone.
Later, that dozy embrace solidified in his memory as the single moment of artless, charmed happiness in their separate and difficult lives. Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face because he did not want to see nor feel that it was Jack he held. And maybe, he thought, they'd never got much farther than that. Let be, let be.
At this point we are given the explanation as to why Ennis chose to have anal sex with Jack in the way first described, why there is no description of kissing on the mountain, why the reunion kiss is described in great detail, and why Ennis is unable to substantially shift his position over the years. We are also told that Jack kept coming back for sixteen years both because he loved Ennis and because he craved a perfect moment of sexless acceptance which was never repeated, and that he at last understood that the apparent forward movement of the reunion, with its wider range of sexual activities, did not lead to deeper intimacy. In fact, the kiss, which happened in a moment of dangerous abandon, was the precipitating factor for much of Ennis's later behaviour, i.e. his insistence on them never being in public together and his inability to express sexless acceptance and love of Jack as he did in the Dozy Embrace. (The use of the word "then" in this passage has been debated at length. See "The Question Of Then" below.)
* At the end, Ennis finds their shirts which Jack has hidden away since 1963. In hanging the shirts together Jack has recreated the Dozy Embrace but with his own arms around Ennis, giving Ennis the love and acceptance that Jack craved for himself but which he never received while he was alive. Ennis then symbolically embraces and kisses the shirts by holding them to his face and breathing in deeply through nose and mouth, finally accepting Jack and his love.
At this stage we are finally told in full about the fight at the end of the first summer, that it occurred as a result of Jack's showing love and concern for Ennis after hurting him. It becomes apparent that the time on Brokeback Mountain was not as idyllic as indicated by the first description "... they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong". Far from being a time of sexual freedom, it was a time where Ennis could only accept Jack as a sexual partner if he subconsciously denied his gender by avoiding overtly masculine features, stubble, a muscular, hairy chest, an erection, a deep voice, etc. On each occasion when Jack broke through Ennis's barrier he received a warning. Under such circumstances the likelihood that Ennis could allow himself to do such an overtly homosexual action as kissing a man is very remote. That he was able to do it four years later is due to his finding other excuses as to why he could not be gay.
THE QUESTION OF "THEN"
A point of vehement argument has been the exact meaning of the word "then". To which time period does it apply? To the whole summer? To just the period of the Dozy Embrace? To other time periods? Like "they deepened their intimacy considerably" it may be a deliberately vague use of the word; however, when it is read in context, the most likely explanation is that it refers to the whole of the summer, at least up to and including the Dozy Embrace. All other explanations require unconvincing reasons as to how Jack could have been aware of Ennis's reluctance to embrace him face to face.
The most popular alternative meaning is that "then" applies only to the time of the Dozy Embrace, i.e. on that single occasion. This is quite an appealing interpretation as it allows the possibility of kissing and other face-to-face interaction in a sexual context but just not on this occasion of nonsexual communion. However, the question then arises as to how Jack would know that Ennis would not embrace him face to face on that single occasion, and how would he know the reason. If this is the only nonsexual embrace (as is indicated by "the single moment of artless, charmed happiness") then Jack has no way of knowing that Ennis will not embrace face to face, and therefore has no reason not to turn into the embrace. Given the later revelation that "Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face ..." it is plain that this lack of a face-to face embrace is a potential negative for Jack. If there has been an earlier moment when Ennis has indicated reluctance in a nonverbal way, would Jack not interpret the later embrace as a thawing of Ennis's reluctance?
The argument for no face to face intimacy on the mountain, both sexual and nonsexual, is strengthened by the events surrounding the punch on the last day. It is apparent that Ennis strikes out in response to Jack's ministering, not to the knock on the nose (see above). This scenario is considerably weakened if they have already been face to face. In fact, the fight becomes simply an emotional and easily understood outburst on Ennis's part, with little or no connection to the main theme of the story, and one which hardly deserves the dramatic buildup of tension which Proulx creates by hinting about the fight, then finally revealing the details at what is undoubtedly the climax of the story. (Since the film unravels the story in near-chronological order, the viewer already knows the circumstances of the fight and is therefore left with just Ennis's discovery of the shirts. The fact that the scene is so powerful and is still the climax of the film is due to the creative skills of the filmmakers plus the more manipulative medium of cinema.)
The most logical answer - and most satisfying in a literary sense - is that the information revealed in the Dozy Embrace is the explanation for their abrupt and disconcerting sexual act on that first night: the act - "Ennis jerked his hand away [from Jack's penis] ... hauled Jack onto all fours and ... entered him", then the explanation - "Ennis would not then embrace him face to face because he did not want to see nor feel that it was Jack he held". (In her essay, "Getting Movied", Annie Proulx makes the connection even clearer by writing of Ennis's "refusal to admit he was holding a man".) These two passages neatly bookend the whole of their sexual life, and sum up the whole tragedy.
CONCLUSION
The question which remains is: What difference does it make whether Ennis and Jack kissed or not during their summer on the mountain?
The lack of kissing is a symptom and symbol of the ultimate destroyer of their chance of a life together, i.e. destructive rural homophobia. Despite the fact that they are observed by at least two people at different times, the foreman Aguirre and Ennis's wife Alma, nothing ever comes of these sightings. The reasons that they never fully and successfully share a life stem not from the actions of others but from their own personal failings (which in turn are the results of their fathers' actions). While both men are homophobic to a certain extent, it is Ennis who carries most of society's bigotry into the relationship. It is, in a way, a three-cornered affair between Ennis, Jack, and Ennis's homophobia.
Most readers buy the love story; they know by the end that Jack loved Ennis deeply and consciously from their first months together, but that Ennis fought down any feelings of love for Jack, refusing to admit to them as this would make him, in his own eyes, a queer. This is a hard enough story to accept as it is, but the idea that Ennis's homophobia ran so deep that he would not allow himself to fully accept Jack sexually in those first months - or even do such a simple but meaningful act like kissing - is too harsh for many readers.
For others of us, however, it is an essential part of the tragedy, an horrific revelation which pulls the threads of the story together.
In her 1997 short story, Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx unfolded the tragic lives of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist through a series of flashbacks which roll out from the opening prologue. Much of the information the reader learns about these two men is withheld until the "right" moment; this moment usually coincides with the time when one or other of the characters comes to understand the significance of the memory. Because of this withholding of vital pieces of information, a reader is encouraged to fill in the gaps with his or her own expectations or wishes, until the truth is revealed. The last few pages of the story are a cascade of revelations and false climaxes which leave both reader and characters shattered, their illusions in tatters.
One of the most startling revelations is that, in the early part of their sexual relationship while they were still on Brokeback Mountain, Ennis would not embrace Jack face to face due to his own homophobia. The implications of this fact colour much of the story, but for many readers they are unpalatable and unnecessary "overlays" on a story which is already tragic enough.
The 2005 Ang Lee film made subtle changes to the arc of the original story; one of these was the addition of a kissing scene which helped to cement the existence of this activity between Jack and Ennis in the minds of most viewers. However, a careful reading of the original story shows that a strong case can be made for the assertion that Annie Proulx included material which leads to a "No Kiss" conclusion. This material is detailed below. It utilises direct narrative, symbolism, allegory and story structure. Interpretations of the meaning of passages, as they relate to the "No Kiss" theory, are given in italics.
It should be noted that many people remain vehemently unconvinced of the idea that they did not kiss while on the mountain, and even those of us who believe it, came to this conclusion at different times and in different ways. Annie Proulx says a story is not finished until it has been read; perhaps those who believe Jack and Ennis did not kiss are reading too much into it, or perhaps those who believe they did are not reading enough. No doubt we each have our individual reasons for our stances.
***
* The story opens with a prologue in which Ennis del Mar, now an aging man living alone, recalls the time with Jack Twist "when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong".
Use of the word "seemed" rather than, say, "was", sets up a false impression in the reader's mind which then colours the interpretation of much of the rest of the story.
* Once the story proper commences, in the summer of 1963, the first sexual encounter is described thus: "... he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he'd touched fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him." There is no talking during the entire act, apart from Jack's orgasmic "Gun's goin off!", and no tender intimacy.
Ennis instinctively rejects the sign of Jack's obvious masculinity, giving a non-verbal warning that he does not want to acknowledge it, and chooses to have sex in a way that he finds less confronting, i.e. where he doesn't have to see or touch Jack's genitals, and in a position which can be done with a woman as well as a man. Proulx employs a simile "as though he'd touched fire" which implies an action of self-preservation. However, while Ennis's actions on this occasion may seem a little abrupt and disconcerting, there is no real reason to question his motives at this point.
Teasingly, Proulx introduces the above episode by saying that in the tent on this cold night “…they deepened their intimacy considerably.” This may be simply a foreshadowing of what is to come, or a description of some “acceptable” straight behaviour such as the beginning of a shared masturbation session, or perhaps some kissing and cuddling; the line is, it appears, deliberately vague.
* From then on, although their friendship continues unabated, they say nothing both during and about the sex (with one exception, see below) but both know "how it would go ... as it did go".
This indicates that the type of sexual activity does not essentially change although the frequency and locations increase, as described by "... at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot sun striking down, and at evening in the fire glow". Proulx lets us assume that their sexual activities improve and expand after their rather unpromising start.
* The exception to the lack of talking is Ennis's unexplained comment during one sexual episode, "I'm not no queer", to which Jack quickly responds with, "Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody's business but ours."
While it may be that Ennis spontaneously utters this comment as a way of reinforcing his straight persona in both his and Jack's eyes, we are able to see later that this is part of a pattern of action (Jack) and reaction (Ennis), so the likely explanation for Ennis's remark is that Jack tries some action e.g. a kiss or another attempt to get Ennis to touch his penis, and is given a verbal warning.
* On the last afternoon of their sheep-herding summer on Brokeback Mountain, Ennis punches Jack on the jaw, although the reason for this violence is not revealed until later.
We learn almost at the end of the story that the punch comes about after Jack has kneed Ennis in the nose during "their contortionistic grappling and wrestling", which is highly likely to be part of their sexual activities, given that we have not been told elsewhere that they indulge in such behaviour for its own sake; the sexual nature of this wrestling is further supported by indications that they may both have been naked or semi-naked at the time. (If their sexual activity is restricted, then it is possible that an “acceptable” action like wrestling could function as wordless foreplay.) Although Ennis has very fast reflexes and is a natural fighter, he does not punch Jack until Jack attempts to staunch the resulting nosebleed, using his own shirtsleeve. In other words, Ennis is not reacting violently to his injury but to Jack's ministerings. This ministering would most likely be done with Jack facing Ennis and being up close, displaying concern.
* After a four year separation they meet again, and in the midst of a full-bodied embrace they kiss, a kiss which is described in great detail. The embrace and kiss are accompanied by a lock-and-key simile - "They ... hugged mightily ... then, and easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together ..."
Its placement indicates that the hug is the right key which unlocks the kiss, and that kissing is a new activity, since there is no corresponding metaphor at the end of summer 1963 to indicate that anything has been locked down. In fact, there are many references to both of them thinking about the other and hoping for a continuation of the relationship. This simile also dovetails nicely with the description of their first sexual act when Ennis does "... nothing he'd done before, but no instruction manual needed." In other words, both the first sex and the first kiss are things which come naturally to him when the right stimuli are present.
* We are shown their significant milestones - the first physical contact (a handshake on the day they meet), their first sexual contact, their first and last fights, and their reunion after four years, yet we are not shown their first kiss, an important feature of any loving relationship.
That is, we are not shown it if it occurred on the mountain. However, if they did not kiss there, then the reunion kiss is the first one and we have it fully described as befits such a breakthrough moment.
* During the kiss Jack's big buck teeth "bring blood".
This description has an immediate connotation of breaking through Ennis's "mouth barrier", in the way a hymen is broken. He can now kiss Jack and also he is now able to speak about the sex, which he did not do on the mountain. A further connection with the kiss occurs later. See below.
* During the hours they spend at a motel after they reunite, Ennis explains a little about why he punched Jack, while not revealing the full truth. He also explains about the death of an old gay rancher he knew as a child, but once again it is only a partial explanation.
Jack and the reader are fooled into thinking that Ennis's reluctance to be with Jack is driven by fear alone, not fear and shame.
* After Ennis’s divorce, when Jack begins to understand that it is more than his marriage which has held him back from living with Jack, Jack gets his teeth filed down and capped, and he also begins to see other men while on his buying trips.
He is coming to realise that the apparent forward movement of the reunion is no such thing. There have been no more sexless Dozy Embraces (although we don't know about the Dozy Embrace at this stage) and it seems that the opening up of sexuality after the reunion has resulted in a loss of potential tender sexless intimacy, as shown just once in the Dozy Embrace. So Jack symbolically withdraws the reunion kiss by withdrawing the teeth that injured and "opened up" Ennis. He also grows a moustache to hide his mouth and tells Ennis he "felt no pain".
* Their last trip to the mountains in May 1983 begins with an allegorical retelling of their entire relationship. The trail they follow seems to be their life together, their relationship. "Going up, the day was fine but the trail deep-drifted and slopping wet at the margins"
This correlates to the time on the mountain in 1963 "when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong", yet the trail they are on is narrow and constricted, that deep-drifting snow keeping them on a path that allows no wandering, i.e. restricting them to the type of sex described in their first encounter. Snow and water appear to be images which apply to Ennis's emotions, which he tries to keep locked up in the cold north by always meeting Jack in the cold of the Wyoming mountains, whereas Jack is trying to get them down to the warm south, to Mexico, to sexual freedom.
* They return to the trail later: "... they swung through a narrow pass to a southeast slope where the strong spring sun had had a chance to work, dropped down to the trail again which lay snowless below them."
This correlates to the reunion. The trail is snowless after Ennis's four years of trying to work out about himself, and missing Jack desperately. In that time he has reached an accommodation about himself which allows him to have full sexual relations with Jack while still denying his own sexuality. Thus they are no longer confined to that previous narrow trail with its limited room to move, i.e. they are no longer restricted sexually.
* In the last argument, Jack reveals that he has been seeing other men and Ennis responds with something suspiciously like a death threat, certainly a clear warning to Jack not to say anything more: "I got a say this to you one time, Jack, and I ain't foolin. What I don't know, all them things I don't know could get you killed if I should come to know them."
Jack has not properly understood the non-verbal warning (Ennis's withdrawal of his hand at the start of their first sexual encounter), the verbal warning ("I'm not no queer"), the punch after Jack tends to his nosebleed, the explanation of the punch which Ennis gives at the reunion ("Nothin like hurtin somebody to make him hear good"), or the significance of the story of the dead rancher which Ennis also tells him at the reunion.
* Finally we reach the Dozy Embrace, a flashback to the summer of 1963, when it is revealed that Ennis would not then embrace Jack face to face because of his refusal to admit he was holding a man. Given the significance of the passage it's worth quoting in full.
What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger.
They had stood that way for a long time in front of the fire, its burning tossing ruddy chunks of light, the shadow of their bodies a single column against the rock. The minutes ticked by from the round watch in Ennis's pocket, from the sticks in the fire settling into coals. Stars bit through the wavy heat layers above the fire. Ennis's breath came slow and quiet, he hummed, rocked a little in the sparklight and Jack leaned against the steady heartbeat, the vibrations of the humming like faint electricity and, standing, he fell into sleep that was not sleep but something else drowsy and tranced until Ennis, dredging up a rusty but still useable phrase from the childhood time before his mother died, said, "Time to hit the hay, cowboy. I got a go. Come on, you're sleepin on your feet like a horse," and gave Jack a shake, a push, and went off in the darkness. Jack heard his spurs tremble as he mounted, the words "see you tomorrow," and the horse's shuddering snort, grind of hoof on stone.
Later, that dozy embrace solidified in his memory as the single moment of artless, charmed happiness in their separate and difficult lives. Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face because he did not want to see nor feel that it was Jack he held. And maybe, he thought, they'd never got much farther than that. Let be, let be.
At this point we are given the explanation as to why Ennis chose to have anal sex with Jack in the way first described, why there is no description of kissing on the mountain, why the reunion kiss is described in great detail, and why Ennis is unable to substantially shift his position over the years. We are also told that Jack kept coming back for sixteen years both because he loved Ennis and because he craved a perfect moment of sexless acceptance which was never repeated, and that he at last understood that the apparent forward movement of the reunion, with its wider range of sexual activities, did not lead to deeper intimacy. In fact, the kiss, which happened in a moment of dangerous abandon, was the precipitating factor for much of Ennis's later behaviour, i.e. his insistence on them never being in public together and his inability to express sexless acceptance and love of Jack as he did in the Dozy Embrace. (The use of the word "then" in this passage has been debated at length. See "The Question Of Then" below.)
* At the end, Ennis finds their shirts which Jack has hidden away since 1963. In hanging the shirts together Jack has recreated the Dozy Embrace but with his own arms around Ennis, giving Ennis the love and acceptance that Jack craved for himself but which he never received while he was alive. Ennis then symbolically embraces and kisses the shirts by holding them to his face and breathing in deeply through nose and mouth, finally accepting Jack and his love.
At this stage we are finally told in full about the fight at the end of the first summer, that it occurred as a result of Jack's showing love and concern for Ennis after hurting him. It becomes apparent that the time on Brokeback Mountain was not as idyllic as indicated by the first description "... they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong". Far from being a time of sexual freedom, it was a time where Ennis could only accept Jack as a sexual partner if he subconsciously denied his gender by avoiding overtly masculine features, stubble, a muscular, hairy chest, an erection, a deep voice, etc. On each occasion when Jack broke through Ennis's barrier he received a warning. Under such circumstances the likelihood that Ennis could allow himself to do such an overtly homosexual action as kissing a man is very remote. That he was able to do it four years later is due to his finding other excuses as to why he could not be gay.
THE QUESTION OF "THEN"
A point of vehement argument has been the exact meaning of the word "then". To which time period does it apply? To the whole summer? To just the period of the Dozy Embrace? To other time periods? Like "they deepened their intimacy considerably" it may be a deliberately vague use of the word; however, when it is read in context, the most likely explanation is that it refers to the whole of the summer, at least up to and including the Dozy Embrace. All other explanations require unconvincing reasons as to how Jack could have been aware of Ennis's reluctance to embrace him face to face.
The most popular alternative meaning is that "then" applies only to the time of the Dozy Embrace, i.e. on that single occasion. This is quite an appealing interpretation as it allows the possibility of kissing and other face-to-face interaction in a sexual context but just not on this occasion of nonsexual communion. However, the question then arises as to how Jack would know that Ennis would not embrace him face to face on that single occasion, and how would he know the reason. If this is the only nonsexual embrace (as is indicated by "the single moment of artless, charmed happiness") then Jack has no way of knowing that Ennis will not embrace face to face, and therefore has no reason not to turn into the embrace. Given the later revelation that "Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face ..." it is plain that this lack of a face-to face embrace is a potential negative for Jack. If there has been an earlier moment when Ennis has indicated reluctance in a nonverbal way, would Jack not interpret the later embrace as a thawing of Ennis's reluctance?
The argument for no face to face intimacy on the mountain, both sexual and nonsexual, is strengthened by the events surrounding the punch on the last day. It is apparent that Ennis strikes out in response to Jack's ministering, not to the knock on the nose (see above). This scenario is considerably weakened if they have already been face to face. In fact, the fight becomes simply an emotional and easily understood outburst on Ennis's part, with little or no connection to the main theme of the story, and one which hardly deserves the dramatic buildup of tension which Proulx creates by hinting about the fight, then finally revealing the details at what is undoubtedly the climax of the story. (Since the film unravels the story in near-chronological order, the viewer already knows the circumstances of the fight and is therefore left with just Ennis's discovery of the shirts. The fact that the scene is so powerful and is still the climax of the film is due to the creative skills of the filmmakers plus the more manipulative medium of cinema.)
The most logical answer - and most satisfying in a literary sense - is that the information revealed in the Dozy Embrace is the explanation for their abrupt and disconcerting sexual act on that first night: the act - "Ennis jerked his hand away [from Jack's penis] ... hauled Jack onto all fours and ... entered him", then the explanation - "Ennis would not then embrace him face to face because he did not want to see nor feel that it was Jack he held". (In her essay, "Getting Movied", Annie Proulx makes the connection even clearer by writing of Ennis's "refusal to admit he was holding a man".) These two passages neatly bookend the whole of their sexual life, and sum up the whole tragedy.
CONCLUSION
The question which remains is: What difference does it make whether Ennis and Jack kissed or not during their summer on the mountain?
The lack of kissing is a symptom and symbol of the ultimate destroyer of their chance of a life together, i.e. destructive rural homophobia. Despite the fact that they are observed by at least two people at different times, the foreman Aguirre and Ennis's wife Alma, nothing ever comes of these sightings. The reasons that they never fully and successfully share a life stem not from the actions of others but from their own personal failings (which in turn are the results of their fathers' actions). While both men are homophobic to a certain extent, it is Ennis who carries most of society's bigotry into the relationship. It is, in a way, a three-cornered affair between Ennis, Jack, and Ennis's homophobia.
Most readers buy the love story; they know by the end that Jack loved Ennis deeply and consciously from their first months together, but that Ennis fought down any feelings of love for Jack, refusing to admit to them as this would make him, in his own eyes, a queer. This is a hard enough story to accept as it is, but the idea that Ennis's homophobia ran so deep that he would not allow himself to fully accept Jack sexually in those first months - or even do such a simple but meaningful act like kissing - is too harsh for many readers.
For others of us, however, it is an essential part of the tragedy, an horrific revelation which pulls the threads of the story together.
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