Ennis recalled that “They’d took a tire iron to [Earl], spurred him up, drug him around by his dick until it pulled off, just bloody pulp.” (Proulx, n.d., p. 13) as a way to show ‘there is no place in society for any man who feels desire for other men’ (Patterson, 2008, p. 154). It was an act of violence intended to warn other men and even boys like Ennis, whose “Dad made sure I seen it. Took me to see it” (Proulx, n.d., p. 14), that homosexuality was not acceptable. Despite the fact their conversation about starting a new life together in Mexico happened in the 1980s where homosexuality was becoming more widely tolerated, Ennis still feared facing the same persecution that Earl faced which ultimately leads to Jack’s death where Ennis believed ‘they got him with the tire iron’ (Proulx, n.d., p. 21) just like the murderers of Earl ‘got
Ennis recalled that “They’d took a tire iron to [Earl], spurred him up, drug him around by his dick until it pulled off, just bloody pulp.” (Proulx, n.d., p. 13) as a way to show ‘there is no place in society for any man who feels desire for other men’ (Patterson, 2008, p. 154). It was an act of violence intended to warn other men and even boys like Ennis, whose “Dad made sure I seen it. Took me to see it” (Proulx, n.d., p. 14), that homosexuality was not acceptable. Despite the fact their conversation about starting a new life together in Mexico happened in the 1980s where homosexuality was becoming more widely tolerated, Ennis still feared facing the same persecution that Earl faced which ultimately leads to Jack’s death where Ennis believed ‘they got him with the tire iron’ (Proulx, n.d., p. 21) just like the murderers of Earl ‘got