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Domesticity And Family In Ringo's On Brokeback Mountain

1604 Words7 Pages

Ringo, the young outlaw, is masculine and charming. But, under his layers of rock, Ringo has wishes of domestication much like Lassiter. Ringo was left without a family after their tragic murder. In fact, he was left entirely alone, away from society, as he was locked up in prison directly following the murder. For Ringo, his relationship with Dallas represents a sort of head start to return to the ways of domesticity and family. According to Cawelti, women are synonymous with the meaning of the word “town”. Both represent love, domesticity, and family. (Cawelti 31) In addition, Ringo yearns for a paradise which includes Dallas. He does not want to be assimilated into society, but he does not want to continue living his life in solitude.
By understanding these needs, Dallas is the perfect companion. She understands what it is like to be shunned from society. According to …show more content…

Ennis appears shy, and it is evident that he does not talk freely. On the other hand, Jack appears lively and confident. According to Eric Patterson, a professor of American studies and American literature, in On Brokeback Mountain: Meditations about Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film, the men’s first exchange of words shows Jack’s confidence and sociability, and Ennis’s insecurity and indifference (12). In that scene, Jack boldly jokes with Ennis about his name, and Ennis shyly responds. Patterson adds to the contrast of the characters by stating, “Where Jack is animated, Ennis is withdrawn” (10). This first encounter can also be decoded by the clothing each man wears. Ennis’s shirt was fully buttoned, but Jack was showing some skin at the neck (Patterson 11). From this, one can infer that Ennis is quite reserved, both in his sexuality and his emotions, and Jack is very open in both of these categories. This contrast of personality characteristics helps to develop both

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1. Cass Mastern’s story, though at first seemingly unnecessary and random, shares many elements and themes with Jack’s life. The story of Jack Burden and Cass Mastern are alike in that they involve the cycle of betrayal, guilt, and the burden of responsibility. Cass Mastern commits the ultimate betrayal- he sleeps with his best friend’s wife. Duncan Trice, who was “passionately and single-mindedly devoted to his wife”, commits suicide upon finding out of the affair with a “lead slug nearly the size of a man’s thumb in his chest” (Warren 4.237-243).

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He was a star in the Negro Leagues (he learned to play baseball while he was in prison) however, his athletic ability decreased just before blacks were accepted in the Major Leagues. He is strong, hardworking, and tells fictitious stories in which he twists the truth. He is the breadwinner and plays a leading role in his thirty-three plus year friendship with Jim Bono. He is the centerpiece of all relationships in the movie. He is a father to Cory, Lyons, and Raynell.

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Finny’s Finny’s private and emotionally connected confession of truly caring about Gene revealed a whole new unaccepted side of Finny: “...‘I know I kind of dragged you away at the point of a gun, but after all you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal.’ He hesitated and then added, ‘which is what you are,’ and there was silence on his dune” (21). At Devon, Finny is admired for his strength and slightly egotistical confidence. During this time in society, men were not supposed to show strong variability, especially in times of war. This declaration of their friendship takes place alone on a forbidden beach representing their forbidden best friendship.

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Many times a western character desires to be destroyed. Although they don’t die, you typically see the brave heroine put themselves in an extreme situation of danger in order to complete a task. Overall, a western hero may be seen as the loner, however is strong in their morals. (Lusted, 2016) Like most heroes, Ringo has an intense backstory.

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Although he compares himself to Finny, Gene’s acute description of Finny’s almost-naked body is rich with detail and admiration, suggesting his underlying homosexual desires. While Gene’s homoerotic gaze lies primarily on Finny, it shifts to Brinker once Finny is gone. Gene states, “The flaps of his gabardine jacket parted slightly over his healthy rump, and it is that, without any sense of derision at all, that I recall as Brinker’s salient characteristic, those healthy, determined, not over-exaggerated but definite and substantial buttocks” (87). Gene makes keen observations on Brinker’s body and puts emphasis on a particular part of the body that is often sexualized. In sum, Gene’s hyper-awareness and admiration of boys’ bodies suggests homoerotic desires that lie beneath the surface of A Separate

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Brother Jack and the Narrator’s relationship is similar to the relationship of Cyclops and Odysseus from The Odyssey; Cyclops is one-eyed and in order for Odysseus to return home, he must outwit the Cyclops. In order for the Narrator to discover himself, he must leave Brother Jack’s narrow-minded path for him, “He stopped, squinting at me with Cyclopean irritation” (Ellison 474). The Narrator’s aspirations for social and political rights when dictated by white influence are risky because he is relying on social change from a well-established system that gives control to the people who have it: the whites (Herberg 202). Both men similarly take advantage of the Narrator for their own personal gain; only when the Narrator is not being boomeranged

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Much like the many sides of a person, Gene and Finny work together and make each other better, improving while competing. Reliant on each other, Gene and Finny have create a co-dependency with one another that they base their personalities on. A prime example of Gene and Finny’s co-dependency presents itself when Gene tries on Finny’s clothes describing, “but when I looked in the mirror… I was Phineas, Phineas to the life” (54). Eccentric and audacious, Finny’s pink shirt is his trade mark symbol of purity, and in this scene Gene tries on Finny’s “costume”. Much like these characters the good and bad of a person are not only one-dimensional, bad can be good and good can do bad.

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One of these things is that he whips one of his tribe members, Wilfred, “The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red. The tribe lay in a semicircle before him. The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffing noisily in the background”(176) to ascertain that Jack has become savage, he has apparently beaten Wilfred for no reason and has taken to covering his face with paint. Another thing Jack does is lie to his tribe to keep them under control, “he came-disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat.

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When George and Lennie are together, they enjoy discussing their ideas for achieving the American Dream. They believe they will "have a little house and a couple acres" and "a rabbit hutch and chickens" in the future. The quote showcases George and Lennie's profound devotion and dedication to their friendship. Their mutual aspiration to reside together in the future and assist each other in all circumstances reinforces their connection. It enables them to overcome challenging situations by providing a collective goal to look forward to; they serve a purpose in each other's lives.

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Other men like Carlson, Crooks, Candy, and Slim would go out on their own and would often be very lonely as they didn’t have any family with them. While many men in this age live on their own, they need to find a person or object to take hold of for companionship. The companionship between George and Lennie is unbreakable and many times the other ranch hands are jealous of their relationship. When George and Lennie first arrive on the ranch, they are met by a man named Candy.

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Since Ennis by definition was “a real man” he wanted to continue to exhibit Western man behavior like being a breadwinner to his family and violent, while at the same time indulge in his secret fantasies of being in a relationship with Jack. In addition, Ennis had a strong hand when it came to fighting, which is a manhood character, and another assertion “in Ennis 's mind” that he was a real man. This is can be seen when in the movie he threw a hard punch on Jack 's jaw bruising him on the last day. This masculine Western man behavior is supported by Warshow (1999) in his book analyzing Movie Chronicle: The Westerner (Warshow,1999) that describes a Western man as being violent through using guns to assert dominance over other people without regard and wishes of other

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