Masculinity In Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain

The short story, Brokeback Mountain written by Annie Proulx, begins in the summer of 1963. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist get paired together that summer to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis Del Mar is the main character and narrates the book. Ennis describes him and Jack as, "high school dropout country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered, rough-spoken, inured to the stoic life." (Proulx 3) One night on the mountain their relationship led to intimacy, an unexpected encounter for both Ennis and Jack. This was surprising for the characters since neither of them considered themselves to be gay. Although Ennis is engaged to be married, they continue the affair the rest of that summer. They part ways and meet up again years down the road. Both men are married with children. They both had missed each other’s company and decide to take a “fishing trip” a couple times a year to rekindle their relationship that started on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis makes it very clear that they cannot be together like Jack would like them to be. Jack would like to live with Ennis and own a ranch together. Ennis believes it just wouldn’t work because of where they live, who they are as men, …show more content…
You learn of this conflict right away in the story. Both men truly find companionship and love within one another, but cannot be open with their romance because of society’s superficial definition of masculinity. Ennis describes how their love affair started and continued that summer, "I'm not no queer," and Jack jumped in with "Me neither. A one-shot thing. Nobody's business but ours." (Proulx 30) This internal conflict with who they want to be and who they should be, defined by society, is what supports the stereotypical perception of masculinity which is present throughout the