Closeted Love In Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain

The short story “55 Miles to the Gas Pump” written by Annie Proulx is a gloomy satirization of how in today's society a couple could be together for a long period of time and still keep secrets from each other. Furthermore, the author establishes how people in rural areas are more likely to hide their faults because they are far from civilization rather than those who are surrounded by witnesses in a rural area. Throughout the story, the author uses these two factors and connects it to the idea that many people live double lives.

“Why Did I Get Married?” directed and produced by Tyler Perry is a movie based on four couples who take a reunion vacation to the Colorado Mountains in order to reunite with friends from college. On this vacation things didn’t go according to plan. Throughout the movie there was heartbreak, infidelity, suppressed feelings, conflict, and secrets raging throughout each of the couples’ relationship in some aspect. With these unfortunate events occurred at various times throughout the film it cause their trip to evolve from a place to relax, enjoy friends, and time off from work into an emotional and tense atmosphere with the involved couple seeking validation from the other couples on the reason why their marriages are the way they are. Even though the movie ended on a good note in their celebration of Janet Jackson’s character (Pat) receiving an award one of the marriages did not survive. This couple’s relationship will be my focus for this paper.

Television psychologists and pop culture self-help gurus tell us that marriage is hard work; marriage is compromise; marriage is a choice between being right, and being happy. All of these statements are true. What these experts don’t tell us, however, is that marriage is also about putting on blinders, or looking on the bright side, or one of a hundred other trite phrases to explain the art of self-deception. In marriage, there are times when we may find it necessary to look the other way from our spouse’s faults or indiscretions, in the interest of self-preservation. For if we examine these problems too closely, our darkest, most secret fears may come true. Therefore, it can seem easier to focus on the positive. In her poem “Surprise,” Jane Kenyon uses denial, selective perception, and fear of betrayal to illustrate the self-deception that can occur in marriage.

Another major display of a shift in gender roles is the infamous anal rape scene. Ed and Bobby, who is the most effeminate of the group, are taken captive by two (likely) inbred woodland men. These men, pariahs to society, become embodiments of the defilement of nature experienced earlier in the novel, the trash in the river and the poultry processing plant. To Dickey, Man’s encroachment upon nature has not only led to the industrialization that plows fields and fells forests, or littered the wild with our excess and excrement, it has made humanity unable to reunite itself with nature. Once man has defiled a region with our technology and our influence, we may never go back “Dickey's novel suggests that there is no free territory…” (Entzminger). These mountain men have ostracized themselves from society, searching for a way to shake off the shackles of cultural expectation. However, in their attempt to become one with nature they have simply perverted it.

One of the norms Kincaid questions is virginity, whether sex is actually meaningful, that it could be enjoyable without the feeling of love. As a nineteen-year-old girl, Lucy is new to what a sexual relationship could have

This story is written in the nineteen eighties, an era filled with racial and sexual evolution. By the mid- '80s, Jim Crow laws had been dead for two decades -- a full generation. Mid- '80s culture had also been redefined by social movements such as civil rights and feminism. The eighties was an era of female empowerment and African American equality. Although Jim Crow laws, which hindered racial equality, have been null for two decades, romantic relationships between multiple ethnicities is still not widely accepted. The story begins describing the weather “It was the third day of an August heat wave” (71). It

Unlike many other romance novels, Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place has aroused a plethora of academic debates ranging from the aggressive promotion of the author’s image to the themes contained within the actual narrative. Arguably the most interesting, yet elusive, theories on Peyton Place are centered on how the novel fits into the social fabric of postwar America. Many average readers, as well as literary experts, are prone to identify elements in Metalious’ novel which suggest that this cross-dressing housewife was out to subvert dominant 1950s ideology, while others will argue that the book can do nothing else but support the dominant patriarchal structure under which it was created. A closer look,

Love between two genders is one of the most common themes in writing. In literature, love is often praised, appreciated and cherished. Another common theme in writing is the looming specter of inequality between men and women, which has been strongly depicted throughout history and is still worryingly present in the world today. It is extremely interesting to realize that though love is treasured and valued, in most cases, it takes both genders to create love, and those genders are often separated by inequality. Both these themes coincide well together; the clash of love and gender inequality is interestingly captivating. In John Updikes A&P and Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, both stories send a conclusive message to the reader that equality between both sexes in love and attraction is almost impossible; one gender will always be more powerful than the other.

Sexuality and personal growth has and always will be a topic of conversation in real life and even in fiction short stories. The idea of sexuality has just recently not only became an open idea to discuss but one to also write and publish about. Both Alice Munro and John Updike both illustrate the idea of sexuality and personal growth in very different ways. “The Found Boat” by Alice Munro, deals with sexuality in an aggressive manner while “A&P” by John Updike, deals more with the idea of sexuality rather than sexuality itself. They also have very similar elements of fiction that include (but is not limited to) characters, theme and conflict. The characters relate in both

Subsequent to these men committing adultery, both wives remained married to their unfaithful husbands. Although the dishonesty in Hamilton took place in history, he still appeared ashamedㅡwe know that because of the Reynolds Pamphlet ( ). Billy Pilgrim, on the other hand, always degraded his wife and never admitted to cheating on her; “----------” ( ). Yet, that was not the only time he had an “affair”. He had also had a reverie of a starlet by the name of Montana Wildhack, “-----” ( ). The behavior of this philandering individual reflects the morals of the writer; Kurt Vonnegut, too, had cheated on his wife ( ). The disrespect towards females in this novel is overwhelmingly

Because writing is inherently romantic in nature, throughout the history of literature, we see many authors' insights into the enigmatic and often ambiguous subject of love and relationships. Three short stories penned by three separate American writers deal with such matter: Charlotte Perkins Gillman in "The Yellow Wallpaper", Kate Chopin in "The Storm", and Nathaniel Hawthorne in "Young Goodman Brown." Though the relationships presented in each of these stories are unique in their own persuasion, the same underlying theme runs true in all. At first glance all of these relationships may appear healthy in their existence; however, further introspection uncovers specific maladies which I believe elicit much of the discord which arises

After this first point of contact, the couple enters the next interpersonal stage of 'involvement,' as they get to know one another. Despite their differences, they become convinced that they have a future together and view their differences as potential positives rather than negatives. The couple moves in together and begins to establish greater intimacy. Unfortunately, it is at this juncture that the relationship begins to fall apart, as they try to establish a more private form of 'intimacy,' even though they are publically a couple.

Amber Mauldin reflects on her past through the narrative, Perfectly Broken: A Memoir of Rape and Redemption, about the experiences surrounding her rape. The incident occurred when she was at the age of fifteen and happened in Norfolk, Virginia in 1998. The book itself was published in 2014, leaving a massive gap between the incident and the date of publication. She recounts the event briefly and mainly focuses on the fallout from the incident along with her experience in building herself back up again. Through the curiosity of her brother and the liberation she felt, she tells her tale by giving an explanation to her younger brother at the very beginning of the novel. It is through that sort of lense in which the structure of the story and

“Brokeback Mountain” and “Amelia’s body” illustrate the vast differences of men and women in the West. One, about privacy and hidden secrets, and the other where a whole town knows every detail of this woman’s life. Both show the difference each gender has in the West and how their circumstances and gender roles affected them.

The Western genre is undoubtedly one that is governed by the traditional male 'hero' and its masculine stereotypes. Rarely does the genre break away from this mould, however Ang Lee's renowned film Brokeback Mountain defies the set expectations of the Western and its celebration of masculinity. The film depicts the tragic love between the two central characters 'Ennis del Mar' and 'Jack Twist', set against the backdrop of the American