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Joe Aguirre
Alma marries Ennis del Mar during the fall of 1963. She gives birth to their first daughter, Alma Jr., and a few years later, to Francine. She dislikes Ennis’s predilection for low-paying ranch work with long hours, and wants to settle down somewhere to raise her family. She eventually gets a job at a grocery store in Riverton. Jack’s reunion with Ennis is the beginning of a gradual distancing between Alma and Ennis that eventually culminates in divorce. After Ennis’s weekend in a hotel room with Jack, he shows little interest in being intimate with Alma, and often takes time away from work and his family to go on “fishing trips” with Jack, which Alma knows are much more than just time spent by a lake. Alma eventually realizes her life with Ennis is going nowhere, which leads her to get a divorce. She then marries the Riverton grocer, taking her two daughters with her, and is soon pregnant with a third child.
Alma Beers Quotes in Brokeback Mountain
The Brokeback Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by Alma Beers or refer to Alma Beers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Brokeback Mountain Quotes
In 1963, when he met Jack Twist, Ennis was engaged to Alma Beers. Both Jack and Ennis claimed to be saving money for a small spread; in Ennis’s case that meant a tobacco can with two five-dollar bills inside. That spring, hungry for any job, each had signed up with Farm and Ranch Employment—they came together on paper as herder and camp tender for the same sheep operation north of Signal.
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When they meet on Brokeback Mountain in the summer of 1963, Jack and Ennis are still teenagers. And yet, they have been thrust into adulthood: they have both already been working for years, and Ennis is engaged to Alma Beers. Both men have “savings,” which, as Proulx somewhat sarcastically points out, either don’t really exist or amount to just ten dollars in a can. Thus both boys are as poor as the parents who raised them, and are desperate for work. The government Farm and Ranch Employment program assigns them to work on Brokeback Mountain, which is difficult and low-paying Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidu
“Ennis, please, no more damn lonesome ranches for us,” she said, sitting on his lap, wrapping her thin, freckled arms around him. “Let’s get a place here in town.”
“I guess,” said Ennis… They stayed in the little apartment, which he favored because it could be left at any time.
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Alma and Ennis have two children in the few years after Ennis’s summer on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis moves the family around frequently in accordance with his ranch jobs. Alma objects to moving so often, particularly with two young daughters in tow. However, Ennis likes this way of life. Ranching is all he has ever known, and he has no desire to pursue any other career. He likes having a small apartment that he can move out of at a moment’s notice. Besides being convenient for his ranching jobs, it also means that, should an opportunity arise for him to be Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Volu
They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying son of a bitch, son of a bitch; then, and as easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, “Little darlin.”
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After four years apart from Ennis, Jack sends word that he’ll be passing through Riverton. The two men make plans to meet. When they finally reunite, a warm embrace quickly turns passionate: the men kiss, and Alma witnesses their display of affection from the door. Even though Ennis has become used to his life with Alma and his daughters, seeing Jack again makes him realize how much his life has been missing without his old lover in it. Even though there is a risk Alma or his daughters might witness their embrace—and Alma does witness it—Ennis cannot help himself, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempo
“Friend,” said Jack. “We got us a fuckin situation here. Got a figure out what to do.”
“I doubt there’s nothin now we can do,” said Ennis. “What I’m sayin, Jack, I built a life up in them years. Love my little girls. Alma? It ain’t her fault. You got your baby and wife, that place in Texas. You and me can’t hardly be decent together if what happened back there”—he jerked his head in the direction of the apartment—“grabs” on us like that. We do that in the wrong place we’ll be dead. There’s no reins on this one. It scares the piss out a me.”
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When Jack and Ennis are in the motel room during their first reunion, they realize how badly they have missed one another. Jack wants them to figure out some way to be together, but Ennis tells him that’s not possible. Besides the responsibilities he has at home, he knows that another passionate display like the one in front of Alma could lead to them being murdered if it happens in front of the wrong people. And yet, he acknowledges, “there’s no reins on this one.” In other words, just because they know their homosexuality is stigmatized by society doesn’t mean Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. U
Her resentment opened out a little every year: the embrace she had glimpsed, Ennis’s fishing trips once or twice a year with Jack Twist and never a vacation with her and the girls, his disinclination to step out and have any fun, his yearning for low-paid, long-houred ranch work, his propensity to roll to the wall and sleep as soon as he hit the bed, his failure to look for a decent permanent job with the county or the power company put her in a long, slow dive, and when Alma, Jr., was nine and Francine seven she said, What am I doin, hangin around with him, divorced Ennis, and married the Riverton grocer.
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There is a shift in Alma and Ennis’s marriage once Jack comes back into Enniss’ life. The passionate kiss she witnessed between them, coupled with the weeks he takes off to spend time with Jack, tips Alma off to the fact that Jack and Ennis are likely lovers. Further frustrated by his inclination for low-paying work that doesn’t make ends meet, Alma decides that her life is going nowhere as long as she is married to Ennis. As her girls age, she decides she needs to make a better life for them, as well as for herself. Marrying the grocer Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recu
“Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty. You and him—”
She’d overstepped his line. He seized her wrist and twisted; tears sprang and rolled, a dish clattered.
“Shut up,” he said. “Mind your own business. You don’t know nothin about it.”
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When Ennis attends a tense Thanksgiving dinner at Alma’s home with her new husband, Alma accuses Ennis of being in a relationship with Jack. Ennis has never been accused of being gay or discussed his sexuality with anyone but Jack, and he becomes angry. This anger is the manifestation of his deep-seated fear of the physical violence he might be subjected to at the hands of homophobes, like Earl had been years before. Attempting to assert his dominance over his ex-wife, he hurts Alma. He does this to try to intimidate her out of mentioning anything to other people. As Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas
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Alma Beers Character Timeline in Brokeback Mountain
The timeline below shows where the character Alma Beers appears in Brokeback Mountain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Brokeback Mountain
...prior; this summer is Ennis’s first. When they meet, Ennis has recently been engaged to Alma Beers.
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Ennis marries Alma in December, and she is pregnant by January. They name their daughter Alma Jr. Ennis...
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...arrives, the men embrace, and before they know what is happening, they are kissing passionately. Alma, standing in the doorway, sees the whole encounter. When Ennis finally turns to see her...
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As the years wear on, Alma and Ennis have another daughter. The couple begins to grow apart, as Ennis steals away...
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...to show that he isn’t upset by the divorce or that his daughters live with Alma. But when he and Alma are alone and she accuses him of being in a...
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