Ennis Del Mar [nb 1] is the fictional main character of the short story Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, the 2005 Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the same name directed by Ang Lee, and the 2023 play by Ashley Robinson also adapted from the short story.

Get everything you need to know about Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. Analysis, related quotes, timeline.

Ennis Del Mar is one of the two protagonists of Annie Proulx's novella Brokeback Mountain, as well as its 2005 film adaptation. He is a cowboy in 1960s Wyoming who falls in love with fellow ranch hand Jack Twist, and has a 20-year-long secret affair with him consisting of short, infrequent trips...

Jun 3, 2021 · When Ennis tells Lureen that Brokeback Mountain was where they herded sheep one summer, he confirms what she has already suspected.

In Wyoming in 1963, cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre to herd his sheep through the summer on grazing pastures on Brokeback Mountain. After a night of heavy drinking, Jack makes a pass at Ennis.

“Brokeback Mountain” begins with two italicized paragraphs in present tense that feature the story’s protagonist, Ennis Del Mar, well after the story’s main events have taken place. Ennis, a middle-aged ranch hand, wakes before five in his trailer.

Ennis is a stoic who, mired in the life he has made for himself, allows himself only stolen glimpses of the happy life he and Jack could have had with each other if circumstances had been different. Read an in-depth analysis of Ennis Del Mar.

Though it is Jack Twist who, we infer, is murdered by those who oppose his sexual orientation, it is Ennis Del Mar—living in his trailer, confined to a sad life on the broad, flat plains of Wyoming—who is the story’s tragic soul.

Jack visits Ennis, now married with children, and proposes that they live together on a ranch, away from society’s judgment. However, Ennis, crippled by fear and societal pressures, refuses Jack’s offer, stating, “Jack, I swear…” before abruptly ending their conversation.

Ennis is the quiet one, the cautious one, the one who would rather keep quiet and stay unobtrusive than yell "I love this man!" and face the consequences. In fact, he's the kind of guy who'd rather not talk about anything even when it's staring him in the face.