Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

Paperback - USA - 1998 release.

Author Annie Proulx Published 1997-10-13 Type Fiction, Short story Genre Drama, Tragedy, Western Themes Drama, LGBT, Romance, Tragedy, Western Age Group Adult

Brokeback Mountain is a short story by Annie Proulx published in The New Yorker on 1997-10-13.

The story is set in 1963 and takes place in several rural areas of the USA, particularly Wyoming. Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, both young ranch hands, are hired to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain where they develop a relationship while each assuring the other they aren't gay. They go their separate ways, and each get married and start a family, but try to continue this relationship in secret, fearful of what happens to gay men in their extremely Conservative culture.

Personal

Own?	Yes. In the anthology, Contemporary Fiction: 50 Short Stories Since 1970.
Read?	Yes.
Finished	2024-11-26.

While looking through the table of contents in my anthology, I recognized this title from the movie and decided to read it.

Review

Overall:

Good

• A forbidden romance tends to make for a good story, and this one takes an approach that, even in 1997, was still quite taboo.
• Throughout the story, Proulx makes some good word choices which result in clever phrasing.
• Ennis's conclusion, that Jack didn't die from an accident, but was murdered for being gay, is quite tragic.
• The ending, where Ennis finds his old shirt in Jack's room, and creates a small shrine to him is really heart-felt.

Bad

• Nothing.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	None of the women are strong.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Although there are a few women, they never speak to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Everyone is white.
Queer character?	Pass	Jack and Ennis are either gay or male-favoring bisexuals.

Adaptions

The story was adapted into a movie in 2005 which became very popular, an opera in 2014, and a play in 2023.

Quotes

— This section contains spoilers! —

• "You know, friend, this is a goddamn bitch of a unsatisfactory situation."
• "You got no fuckin' idea how bad it gets... You're too much for me, Ennis... I wish I knew how to quit you."
• If you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

Links