- Annie Proulx
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...Let it be, let it be.
Wow, I don't even know where to begin at this moment in time. Initially when I was printing this story out a couple of days ago, the name alone was (sadly) a turn off alone in itself due to the movie made some years ago (which I hadn't seen only heard about). I'm actually really disappointed myself to have worked up a preconceived idea of what I thought this story would be like and how I assumed I would not like it.
Turns out, I absolutely loved it. The quote above that I pulled from page 277 is one of the last things Jack was thinking before he and Ennis split up for what both were aware would be forever. Love is love. That's the basis of this story. Through man and woman, woman and woman or man and man. No love comes in gender, comes in no form, it is just two souls wanting, attracting and desiring each other in no other possible purified form than in this one. I nearly cried at the end when I found that that Jack had died.
This whole time all he wanted to do was be with Ennis, a man who was scared and afraid of what society would do to them if they ever found out about their secret love affair. And that had me pondering a significant and obvious question: why do we feel the absolute need to hide what we love? Who we love? And how we love?
Ever since I was young, I've always had this theory in life. That no matter what you go through or what happens, the basis of life is love. Love of a friend. Love of a classmate. Love of a dog. Love of a spouse. Love of your children. It comes in all forms, but no life should ever go without a form of it. And then there's this second theory: Very few people find the meaning of what love means for them as a unique individual. Some say they've found it and some pretend to have found it. The truth in my mind is that only a handful of people find it. Jack and Ennis found it and they didn't know what to do with it. So was it a waste? No.
Not for Jack. But for Ennis, all the time unspent with Jack was a waste. And I think this reflects on the irrelevant and unnecessary times in our lives where we bicker at someone we love, pick a fight and then hold a grudge for the rest of the day when the rest of the day could have been good. It's about the sleepless nights you stay thinking of that special someone, and yet refuse to speak to them because of a lousy point you're trying to make for what? You love them, and they love you. So what's the issue? At any moment at any time any person can be taken away. Just like that, without a sudden hint or explanation. It just happens. And it takes you by surprise because you took for granted their space they occupied in your life. You took for granted what they fulfilled for you when you were actually happy. You took for granted the love that you were so lucky to have, and now, you're without any of it.
Absolutely loved this story. Loved it. Can't even explain in words how much I loved it.
I'm glad you loved it. And even after our class conversation I'm convinced it's a love story; maybe just because I want to believe that :). Also powerful--several people have noted in their blog posts that there's a weird prejudice against this film. I saw it when it came out to great critical acclaim. But I guess its power was lost and its "gayness" was all that people continued to talk about.
ReplyDeleteReading something is very different as opposed to watching something and I feel for some reason or another, people are my apt to be open minded when reading something as opposed to watching it because when they're reading, it is only them and the literature they're taking in. And that's a shame because these great actors, directors, producers, editors and whoever else are involved in the making of films such as this one, put in their interpretation of the film and I feel, help a wider audience who maybe dislikes reading or doesn't get around to it as often as they'd like, to see it. Seeing something is an alternative to reading about it. I definitely agree with how you said that the "power was lost and its 'gayness' was all that people continued to talk about". I hope that one day we are able to watch something in the same way we read it: open-minded. There are not wandering eyes or judgement when the thoughts are kept within your own head when reading a love story such as this. (Which I change back to what I said in class, that I do think it's a love story. I feel I am easily persuaded in these kinds of situations, I can definitely see both sides). But when we are in a room full of wandering eyes and many people of many different kinds of thoughts and ideas about what their definition of love is, it's hard I feel, to stay true to how you originally felt back when you read the story. (I feel like I am talking in circles but hope this is making sense). Love is Love. I wish the audience that watched the film could feel the same sensations as I did when I read it. I don't understand why man and man is disturbing. Love is love. It knows no gender or race. A love story is merely but a love story.
ReplyDelete