Ennis is a young man who was raised on a farm and knows nothing but farm work. Ennis is not a student of the world, he is not sophisticated, but a simple man. Ennis marries a young woman when he is only eighteen and has two children almost immediately. The marriage falls apart, but Ennis was never really in love with his wife. Ennis marries because it is expected, it is what he should do. Most everything Ennis does is because it is what he should do.