Characters
Joe Aguirre
Joe Aguirre, the ranch foreman who employs Ennis and Jack to tend sheep on Brokeback Mountain, views them as a "pair of deuces going nowhere." He secretly observes them with binoculars during their intimate moments. His disdain for their homosexuality leads him to refuse to hire Jack again the next summer. Joe's attitude hints at the prejudice the two will continue to face in their relationship.
Alma Del Mar
Alma Del Mar serves as a reminder of Ennis's inability to embrace a traditional heterosexual lifestyle. Her "misery voice" and increasing resentment over his connection with Jack, along with his emotional detachment from her and their children, add to Ennis's feelings of shame.
Ennis Del Mar
At nineteen, Ennis Del Mar takes on a sheep herding job on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming to save enough money to wed Alma Beers. After his parents' passing, he had to leave high school and now faces limited opportunities. Despite these hardships, he was raised "to hard work and privation" and has become "inured to the stoic life." This stoicism aids him in coping with the anguish of Jack's death.
While on the mountain, Ennis embarks on a passionate yet constrained relationship with Jack Twist. When Jack initiates their first sexual encounter, Ennis quickly responds because he "ran full-throttle on all roads whether fence mending or money spending." During their time on the mountain, Ennis feels that he and Jack "owned the world and nothing seemed wrong." However, he ultimately struggles to accept his homosexuality, repeatedly asserting that he is "no queer." He frequently attempts to deny his feelings, at one point telling Jack, "I like doin it with women" and "I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy." Yet his preference for anal sex with Alma hints at the true nature of his sexuality.
Ennis tries to adhere to a conventional life by marrying Alma and raising a family, but he cannot fully suppress his longing for Jack. He fails to establish a lasting bond with Alma, often choosing temporary jobs and small apartments that "could be left at any time." Eventually, his emotional distance from Alma leads to the dissolution of their marriage.
Ennis's shame over his sexual orientation makes it difficult for him to openly embrace Jack. It also triggers occasional violent reactions. His father taught him to use his fists to solve problems when his older brother bullied him. This aggressive streak emerges when Alma expresses her disgust over his relationship with Jack and when he jealously reacts to Jack's suggestion of being with other men in Mexico. Ennis warns, "all them things I don't know could get you killed if I should come to know them."
Ennis's internalized homophobia and stoic nature help him endure the long separations from Jack and Jack's eventual death. He spends his later years alone, reminiscing about his time with Jack on Brokeback Mountain.
Mr. Del Mar
Ennis's father, Mr. Del Mar, represents the narrow-minded world that Ennis and Jack have to navigate. Although he never physically appears in the narrative, his influence on Ennis is significant. His reaction to the killing of a gay man instills in Ennis a deep sense of shame and fear when he starts to experience his own homosexual desires.
Jack Twist
Jack Twist arrives at Brokeback Mountain because he is "crazy to be somewhere, anywhere else than Lightning Flat," the place where he was raised. Jack is more open about his homosexuality and admits that he never wanted a family. After leaving Brokeback Mountain with Ennis, Jack engages in relationships with other...
(This entire section contains 938 words.)
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men, a decision that ultimately leads to his death.
Because Jack does not feel ashamed of his sexuality, he finds it easier to express his love for Ennis. He frequently emphasizes the depth of their connection, at one point asserting, "[t]his ain't no little thing that's happenin here." When Ennis declines to spend more time with him, Jack grows resentful and impatient. He sees the reality of their relationship more clearly than Ennis, observing that Ennis keeps him on a "short leash." Jack confesses that his intense and unfulfilled desire for Ennis has driven him to seek other men. Despite this, Jack's profound love for Ennis, which is not reciprocated openly, leads him to tell Ennis, "I wish I knew how to quit you."
Jack conveys the depth of his feelings for Ennis by recalling a perfect moment they shared on the mountain. One day, Ennis came up behind him and held him for a long time. That embrace became for Jack "the single moment of artless, charmed happiness in their separate and difficult lives." He yearns for more such moments with Ennis "in a way he could neither help nor understand."
Jack's lack of shame about his sexual orientation causes him to take excessive risks in the intolerant society he inhabits. Although his wife Lureen claims that Jack died from a tire explosion, Ennis understands that Jack was beaten to death, similar to the fate of the gay man from Ennis's hometown.
Lureen Twist
Jack marries Lureen because of her family's wealth. She makes a brief appearance in the story, serving as a plot device to provide Jack with financial support and present a conventional front.
Mr. Twist
Mr. Twist personifies the rugged Western male stereotype. When Ennis visits him after Jack's death, he observes Mr. Twist's need to be "the stud duck in the pond." Mr. Twist's cruelty is evident when he punishes Jack for accidents in the bathroom and his insensitivity is clear when he refuses to allow Ennis to take Jack's ashes to Brokeback Mountain.
