Homosexuality In Brokeback Mountain

“Brokeback Mountain” displays the difficulty two men have living double-sided lives as they hide their sexuality because of their profession, and because of the time period in which they lived. “Brokeback Mountain” is set back in the early 1960’s before it was socially acceptable to present yourself as lesbian or gay in public. It shows the struggles and challenges they face as they hide their secret relationship from friends, and family; the struggles Jack and Ennis face as they try to keep up the image of their profession. The way they are forced to live their lives is an unbelievable difference compared to today’s views on this topic. As a society we have without a doubt moved at a sluggish pace to get to where we are, but nonetheless have
evolved in astonishing ways to move past those times. In this essay I will explain the struggles Jack and Ennis went through, how it affected their relationship, and how the ideologies of those times and now have basically flipped. This scene is really all about the realization Jack and Ennis have as they look back on the life they could have had. They realize that they missed their shot at a happy life together, that is not either of their faults by any means; it’s because of the time period they were in. Ennis points out “I doubt there’s nothin now we can do” (Proulx, 530), as to say that it’s too late for them to have any sort of happiness at that point. Their relationship throughout this story is spread out over about forty years, so at this point in the story it’s simply too late for them to have any sort of meaningful relationship. In the beginning they had a chance to create a relationship, but because of the biased views on gay people being together it was simply too big a risk to their public image. They are both cowboy’s, and with that image there comes a certain persona, they have to be tough, because they are looked at as hero-like, straight edge, perfect people in society.
If they were to publically start a relationship, that image because of the time period, would be tarnished by the fact that they were gay. This story really shows the sad truths that used to be very apparent for homosexual people who wanted to commit to a relationship during this time period and many decades later as well. It is truly a sad realization that Jack and Ennis couldn’t profess their love for each other because of the biased views people had for no apparent reason at this time. At the point of this quote in the story, they are roughly 30-35 years into their relationship, and jack says, “We got a fuckin situation here. Got a figure out what to do” (Proulx, 530). Unfortunately Ennis realizes the sad truth that there truly is no chance for them to ever be together; they love each other, but they can’t stay together on the slight chance that they might be able to hook-up once every couple
years. By the time the story progresses to this point they are both living literal double-lives. They both have families and children of which they both show love for; it’s really a very difficult joint decision they have to make as they both want to divide their love among both sides of their double lives. Jack is clearly willing to drop everything he has and start a life with Ennis as he says in the quote He wants to figure something out so they can be together, but in reality it’s not practical. Ennis is clearly the voice of reason in this situation, while Jack motions more toward the idea that he basically wants to forget about his family and have the life they could have had. Ennis is the one who has to kill the hopes of Jack; it’s sad for them both, but it’s the bitter truth. They both have separate lives with their own wives and kids, so unfortunately they are forced to come to an understanding of the situation. The other bitter truth in this story is featured by the question of; why do they have kids and a family in the first place if they love each other so much? Their profession and the time period they were living in forced them into this life style. They both chose to live normal lives to keep up the image of who they were “suppose” to be; they had to be rough, tough individuals with hard exteriors because they were cowboys. They had to be married to a woman and have children to look as if they were normal people living and working in a normal life. They were forced to live falsified lives because they had to protect their image; in this time that was the only thing that could truly matter to a man with this profession, was how tough he could keep his image. The unfortunate truth was that to be gay in this time period would completely ruin their reputations as public figures. The scary and angering part of this situation for Jack and Ennis is that they do both realize that they are being forced to live separate lives. Ennis says, “We do that in the wrong place we’ll be dead. There’s no reins on this one. It scares the piss out of me” (Proulx, 530). This is right after they hook-up in an apartment during one of the few moments they get to see each other; they realize that there relationship is dangerous for a few reasons. One because they both have a wife and kids; because of this they are not only lying to themselves about not being heterosexual, but they are also cheating on their wives. Secondly because if they were to get caught under any circumstances they would not only be disobeying their wives, but they would be dishonoring their profession. Ennis says it with respectful understanding in the quote, that getting caught scares him to death because of what could happen. Not only would he be cheating on his wife, he would also tarnish the image of his profession. This quote is really a perfect justification for the sadness, realization of what “could have been”, and the realization of what “can no longer be” for Jack and Ennis.
Their story personifies the struggles homosexual’s had as they tried to live happy lives, and were time and time again shot down because of their own sexual being. The tone of this quote and the story as a whole do a good job of justifying the anger that these ideas caused. The quote showed that Jack and Ennis really did live in sad, false, unwanted lives because of how they defined their selves sexually. On the other hand it also shows the magnificent change we have endured as a society when it comes to rights for homosexuals and the thoughts we have on the homosexual community as a whole. These ways may have been slow in coming but we should look at society as a whole today and see that we have made huge steps towards equality for all genders, and races alike. “Brokeback Mountain” is a perfect account in which to show people the struggles gay men had in the 1960’s and beyond. It puts everything in perspective when you relate those times to what we as a society think today; by those means I think it is fair to say that we have come a long
way.