In the scene where Ron and Earl are eating steaks after the lockdown, Ron expresses his concern Earl might want him sexually. Earl replies by saying something along the lines of "I wouldn't have helped you if you weren't pretty. But thats my problem and something I have to live with." Is this implying Earl is gay? Not just prison gay, but he was gay on the outside too.
sharei don't think he's gay, I think he's helping Ron bacause he's a good person and he knows a good looking skinny young guy going into prison is going to get a raw deal compared to other newcomers who perhaps don't seem such an easy target. "that's my problem and something i have to live with" meaning having to live with fighting off Ron's enemys. that's the way i saw it anyway.
shareIn the book,hes not gay but hes had homosexual encounters due to being locked up so long.
shareI haven't seen the movie (am waiting to), but it sounds to me like he's definitely admitting to an attraction which he won't act up on.
I used to have a , but damnit do I want a !share
He's just saying that theres something likeable about Ron. If it was someone like Buscemi, Earl wouldn't have helped him so much. Ron wasn't some ugly, stereotypical convict, he had beauty to him.
shareThen why is it a problem that he must love with?
I used to have a , but damnit do I want a !share
Whether or not Earl is gay is a detail that isnt of the utmost relevance when discussing their relationship. The most important theme being conveyed is Earl's desire to validate his life by being a father-figure, something that a man his age would be experiencing on the outside. When he makes reference to Ron being pretty i think its a matter of his young age and relative innocence being so obvious, and therein he is explaining why he would select him above others to be his "son".
shareOkay, it could be that that's the way he was thinking of Ron's beauty, but it could also be (and this is why the question of Earl's sexual orientation was raised) that he wants to be more than a father to Ron and is abstaining from acting out on this wish. Is that not at least a possibility as well?
I used to have a , but damnit do I want a !share
I think he's talking about the fact that he probably wouldn't have noticed him, cared about him or sympathized
with him if he didn't look good. It has been proven that people are more likely to help individuals that are good looking.
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from the book,, they hinted at, earl having a attraction to rons good looks,, but no desire to "turn him out" stating several times in the book, that if ron was not as good looking or " pretty" he would had never helped him, buy the middle of the book when separated they both start to miss eachother as you would a significant other. my opinion is ron being a good lookin intelligent kid, that was a rare thing that attracted earl, and ron found type of loyal bond/friendship that could not be found on the outside,, theyre relationship remembled the closest thing you could have to a mental relationship from a female from earls point of veiw,, and slowly ron as well,,
shareIn the book, Earl is NOT gay. Yes, he is "attracted" to Ron, both physically and mentally, and has been inside for decades and may have had some encounters during that time (although that's not really clear), and a lot of the stuff people are saying here is true ... he wants to be a father-figure to someone, he's moved by Ron's youth and potential vulnerability, but it's pretty clear in the book that he is not interested in having sex with him. As the last poster said, they have a mental relationship. Ron's smarter than anyone Earl is friends with inside, and he can talk to him in ways he's not able to talk to any of his other convict friends.
There's a scene in the book where Earl is put into segregation (a.k.a. "the hole"), and he decides he's going to masturbate, and he thinks through all the women he has in his head that he can fantasize about, and picks out one in particular. It's pretty clear from this that he's heterosexual.