Good topic monicita!
I believe Alma did love Ennis.
(And though you don't ask, and probably this should be in a different thread, I also believe that Ennis loved Alma quite genuinely, possibly not so much after Divorce and especially not so much after Thanksgiving, but in the beginning and throughout the majority of the 12 year marriage.)
Alma certainly loved Ennis. At their marriage, and throughout their married life. Every marriage is a compromise, so Alma jockeying for a move to the town is quite normal and natural for instance and in no way reflects any lack of love for Ennis. I think her comment about not wanting the girls to grow up so lonely as Ennis did, hit a sensitive spot with Ennis, so was both a persuasive tool AND a true concern for her children. And since we are all human, naturally there was likely also an element of selfish want too. She didn't want to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere without any other society. That's a perfectly legitmate feeling and does not reflect on her love for Ennis.
During the first 4 years of marriage, I project that Ennis was "present" in the marriage. They probably had a quite ordinary loving relationship with each other and with their children. Possibly to Alma, Ennis was a type who occasionally drifted off into quiet reverie thinking over his memories or something. Again quite natural.
At the arrival of Jack, Ennis was lit with a fire of excitement, because all that long quiet memory and feeling exploded out the surface and I'm sure at the moment in time Alma and EVERYTHING was pushed out his mind.
When Alma witnesses the reunion kiss, she is naturally shocked because, 1, she sees two men kissing...likely given the times something she had never seen; 2, she sees the two men kissing PASSIONATELY so there is SOMETHING dramatic happening she can't help but realize; 3, she is seeing HER husband doing this passionate kissing. She is shocked, she is overwhelmed, and she is CONFUSED.
When Ennis brings Jack in to meet her she is still in a state of shock and inarticulately stares in confusion at this sudden stranger. So when he and Ennis immediately head out and leave her she is overcome by it all and breaks down crying. She knows something important happened but probably can't quite comprehend it.
And to me, this is the state she remains in for most of the next 8 years and beyond until she finally confronts Ennis at Thanksgiving. She knows and she doesn't know. Very typical behaviour which is usually casually referred to as "being in denial." Likely she kept putting it out of her mind, until those times when Jack reappeared. Naturally it must have nagged at her but she likely just kept on being wife and mother. And loving her husband. We all know in every relationship there are highs and lows and the honeymoon doesn't last forever. But the two can still love each other through it all.
The scene where Ennis follows her out of the house shouting about the dinner is indicative of trouble in the marriage but is that due to Alma's changed feelings or Ennis's changed feelings? Or is it just indicative of a normal up and down relationship? Probably some elements of all three.
Alma and Ennis have two children together, and we witness two sexual encounters between them. Yes in the first encounter we are shown Ennis flips Alma onto her stomach. We don't know how he takes her (you know what I mean!) and there is no reason to assume he takes her like he took Jack, but possibly the position reminded him of that. We are shown a passion coming from the two of them. Whether Ennis has something going on in his head or not, his body is responding passionately and so seems Alma. Much later on, we still are shown a passon on both their parts. Based on this widely time separated incidents, we see no bored rote sexual performance. So there was something there between the two.
When Alma expresses nervousness and hesitancy about not taking precaution, she is doing a responsible thing. She is considering her family circumstances, her two children, and the family's income. It is Ennis who reacts badly, and in fact it is a bit of a Macho stance. "how dare she question his.... whatever" The action and response of this scene, shows that something has changed, but it is not that Alma stopped loving Ennis. This was a fight, an argument. Ennis's pride was hurt and he pouted. Alma was justified in her concern, and got angry when Ennis says what he said and so she lashed out at him too with an insult to his capability to provide for the family and then she pouted.
Obviously some deterioration had been happening over the years, and even though the next scene in the movie is the divorce court, we don't really know just how much time had passed between the two scenes (correct me please, if in the movie, it does tell us.)
I would be willing to bet that it was Ennis who wanted the divorce, not that Alma stopped loving him.
After this happened, I feel Alma's hurt and disappointment and long held confusion and resentment toward Jack, ate away at her and I believe her feelings turned to anger and bitterness toward Ennis. At that Thanksgiving she definitely has feelings, but they are NOT positive feelings. She looks at Ennis with anger and resentment, and views all his actions through that lens. The scene in the kitchen with her opening comment about getting married again, in my opinion was not an expression of concern for Ennis's well being but an opening comment to finally express her negative feelings about all that had happened. Though she says "me and the girls worry about you", and it's possible that the girls did worry about their Dad and speak of that to their Mom, she probably felt it gave her a legitimate opening remark.
Some have said that apathy is the opposite of love and that may be so, but anger is not NECESSARILY love either. Alma had a lot to be angry about. HER life was changed and affected badly, she could have lots of resentment about what had happened to her which really has nothing to do with any love for Ennis. I see this kitchen scene as she finally expressing that resentment about what had happened in her life. We had already seen that she could be unkind. When Ennis makes his hurt pride comment after she expresses concern about the financial impact of getting pregnant again, she does retaliate with a mean comment. She could have assured him that her concern was only about money, but she got angry and lashed out too instead. So when we then get to the kitchen, she has already shown us that she can be mean if she wants. And that's what I think happened there. So in the end, Alma had stopped loving Ennis at some point before or after the divorce and definitely no longer loved him at the Thanksgiving.
But as I said, I think it was Ennis who initiated the divorce, and had he not done that, I think Alma would have gone on with him, loving him and at the same time, living in some denial about Jack and the implications of that.
I am long winded! My apologies for going on so. Hope that some ideas and theories came through for your consideration.
Thanks,
Jack in Maine
