Annie Proulx
Annie Proulx, born on August 22, 1935 in Norwich, Connecticut, is the award-winning author of The Shipping News, Post Cards, and Brokeback Mountain, among other works. Annie's father was a textile worker, while her mother was a painter. Annie's childhood was not static because her family moved frequently due to the nature of her father's business. Annie, on the other hand, took a deep interest and began writing at the juvenile age of ten. Proulx graduated from high school in Portland, Maine in the 1950s and briefly attended Colby College. Later, Proulx joined Vermont University where she graduated with a degree in history in the year 1969 (Asquith 2009). In 1973 Proulx earned her master in Montreal in Concordia University and went ahead to complete her PHD. After the completion of her PHD, Proulx dropped out and decided to pursue her personal interest s which included freelance writing among other things.
Proulx's Personal Life and Writing Influences
Proulx got married three times and all of her marriages were unsuccessful. She managed to have three children one girl and three sons from her three marriages. Proulx delved deeper in writing non-fiction stories that include Sweet and Hard Cider which she wrote in (1980) among others. Hunt (2011) affirms that, Proulx’s writing is greatly influenced by her surrounding and social prevailing conditions. In her story Brokeback Mountain for instance, Proulx writes from her experiences and knowledge of Wyoming and the lifestyles that the young people in the region go through. Proulx holds the opinion that every story must come from a certain social, political and cultural set up. She equally states that since our immediate environments shape us, stories should be inclusive of the environment.
Themes and Criticism
In her interview with the New Yorker, Proulx stats that it is often difficult to change what other people think about you. Proulx’s remarks were in response to her long story, Brokeback Mountain. Proulx’s work has some trade mark central themes that include love, conflict and acceptance among others. It is through her themes that Proulx shapes the characters and overall outlook of the character traits in her short stories. In Brokeback Mountain Proulx begins her story through describing the landscape that Ennis comes from. The landscape is hostile and the wind blows savagely. The wind symbolizes the constant resistance and shift in situations that the world bestows upon people (Hunt 2011). Proulx equally uses the theme of ‘the endless shifting of the world” to describe how the main characters keep changing in the story from their teenage hood days to their later days in life.
Critics and literal analysts have often commented on Proulx’s work. Some of Proulx’s novels including Postcard in (1992) and Accordion crimes in (1996) have often received a wide range of criticism from readers and literal analysts. In her interviews Proulx ascertains that, it is impossible to change the outlook of her stories to suit the needs of every reader. Asquith (2009) says that Proulx is also defensive and states that a good author leaves some space for the readers to fill in for themselves and come to their own conclusions. Brokeback Mountain has also received several criticisms because of the story’s ending where Jack dies. Most of the critics were men from the farm set ups and hence they claim that the story should have a different ending as opposed to the dark them that Proulx presented. Despite the criticism, Proulx continued to produce other works like “The Old Ace in the Hole” in (2002) among other works.
Proulx's Writing Style
Proulx is a literal writer and most of her works and novels relate directly to her experiences. Her short story “Heart songs” published in (1988) echoes the changes in society that affect us. In the story she depicts how livelihoods are destroyed by the change of societal factors. In her writing she coats the bleak and dark themes that she portrays by an artistic language with an in-depth literal analysis. In her novels, The Shipping News, Accordion Crimes and Postcards she focuses on the Northern American rural societies and the conflicting situations that the people there are forced to encounter. Proulx however, admits that her short stories are more successful than her novels. Some of the short stories include, Bad Dirt (2004), Close Range (1999) and Fine just the way it is in (2008). The theme of most of her short stories entails the earliest settlers in Wyoming, the ranchers and the oil men that inhabit the area in the modern set up. Proulx’s style is iconic and unique as all her creations have a direct reference to the normal lives of the people in their contexts.
Notable Interviews
Proulx has had many interviews throughout her career; however, some of her most notable interviews include her interview with the Paris Review. In the Interview, Proulx explains about the onset of her writing and the motivating factors that shaped her stories. Proulx affirms that her childhood and country side experience are some of the driving forces and motivational factors behind her writing. She equally mentions that the names she uses in her writing come from her experience with people of different character traits and cultural backgrounds. Proulx ascertains that it was her experience in the country side that gave her ideas of the characters and theme in her stories which in turn got a following with readers that could relate to the stories. According to Proulx, her parents were her motivating factor as she states that she got her keenness from her mother and her inquisitive nature came from her father. In her interview with Powellsbooks.blog, on Barkskins Proulx speaks about her personality in relation to the ecological and historical transformation of northern America. Jill Owens. Prowellsbooks.blog. Retrieved 16th June 2016 from http://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-annie-proulx-author-of-barkskins.
Brokeback Mountain
In her long story Brokeback mountain, Proulx use two fictional characters Ennis Del Mar and Jack twist to bring out the life and culture of the cowboys in Wyoming in the 1960s (Rood 2001). Jack and Ennis met as teenagers while working on Joe Aguirre’s farm. Both of the two characters were pushed by circumstances such as poverty and an urge to improve their lives and hence ended up working in Joe’s farm. Jack was assigned the role of sheep herder while Ennis was given that of camp tender. The two teenagers quickly got along and became intimate. Soon after their tenure in the farm ended, they met up four years later and shared their experiences. By then they both were married but still yearned to be together. Circumstances however, were against both of them and they decided to stay away from each other. Later Ennis divorces his wife Alma and he continues seeing Jack even though they argue from time to time. One day Ennis’s mail to Jack is returned on the allegations that Jack is deceased. Ennis follows up on the cause of Jack’s death and goes to Jack’s parent’s home where he experiences memories of Jack.
Some of the themes include the theme of overwhelming natural forces of love and desire. Jack and Ennis battle with the societal perception of love and intimacy. Even though they have gay traits they still live in denial until Jack’s ultimate demise. In, “understanding Annie Proulx,” (Rood 2001) denotes that in Brokeback Mountain, Jack’s father takes him to see the mutilated body of a gay rancher when he was a kid. Jack’s assertion spells out the negativity with which their society at the time perceived gay relationships. There is also the theme of the constant fluctuation of the world as evidenced by how the lives of Jack and Ennis change over the years that they are apart. Proulx uses the landscape and natural phenomenon like the wind to point out how the world changes constantly.
Proulx uses the motif of home to show permanence, security, conservatism and solace among other things. In the initial phases of the story both Jack and Ennis talk about their homes as a reference to themselves and hence moving out of their homes symbolizes opportunity, risk, freedom and progressive thinking while remaining home symbolizes stagnation. Brokeback Mountain on the other hand is symbolic as it symbolizes Jack and Ennis’s emotions, freedom and fatal attraction to each other. When they leave the mountain, their feelings are locked within and hence they have to conform to the society. The plains on the other hand symbolize the ordinary as Jacks and Ennis’s marriages are. After Jack’s death, the author uses the term, “open space” to refer to the plains meaning that it is the only place where Jack and Ennis can truly be free. Annie Proulx. Brokeback Mountain. Retrieved 13 October 1997 from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain.
References
Asquith, M. (2009). Annie Proulx's Brokeback mountain and Postcards. London: Continuum.
Hunt, A. (2011). The geographical imagination of Annie Proulx: Rethinking regionalism. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books.
Rood, K. L. (2001). Understanding Annie Proulx. Columbia, SC: Univ. of South Carolina Press.
http://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-annie-proulx-author-of-barkskins
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain
