The Homesman leaves a lot up to interpretation as even its тιтle is a hidden reference. The term “homesman” refers to the task of returning immigrants home, which was usually a man’s job. Although the film isn’t about immigrants, it is about a homecoming. Taking place in the 1850s, The Homesman follows George Briggs, a claim jumper, who is tasked with escorting four women from Nebraska to Iowa. All the women are living with a mental illness called “prairie fever” and are venturing across state lines to receive treatment. Along the way, the caravan faces challenges from the unforgiving and often dangerous prairie.

Notably, The Homesman was directed by Tommy Lee Jones, who also plays Briggs, and he’s supported by an all-star cast of Oscar-nominated performers like Hilary Swank, John Lithgow, Hailee Steinfeld, and Meryl Streep. As a whole, the film is captivating and is arguably part of a small sub-genre featuring women playing starring roles in Westerns. However, one of the most interesting aspects of The Homesman is the ending, which may merit additional explanation because of all its twists and turns.

What Happens In The Homesman’s Ending

Briggs’ Hand-Off Is Only Partially Successful

Briggs and only three of the women finally arrive in Iowa after a difficult trek across the American West. Upon arrival, Briggs leaves the women in the care of Altha, the wife of a reverend back in Nebraska, then promptly begins his journey out west. But his hand-off is marred by tragedy because one of the women, Mary, died on the trail, after Briggs rejected her marriage proposal. To honor her memory, Briggs carves Mary’s name across a wooden slab meant to symbolize her grave.

In a last-ditch effort to ease his guilt about rejecting Mary, Briggs asks a young woman he meets at a H๏τel to marry him. He rations his choice to her, saying that she shouldn’t marry a man heading out west but rather stay in town, which is ironic because he’s heading out west. The woman says, “Maybe,” leaving Briggs in the same state of rejection and disappointment that led to Mary’s death. Just before the credits roll, Briggs boards a river ferry headed west.

The Mary Cuddy Twist Explained

Her Second Marriage Proposal Is Rejected

Mary Bee Cuddy, played by Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, loses the group after she stays behind to restore an 11-year-old girl’s grave. She subsequently goes around in circles until she finally finds Briggs and the other women again. Shaken from having to survive the harsh prairie alone, Mary asks Briggs to marry her. Briggs refuses, saying that he “ain’t no farmer,” which breaks Mary’s heart.

Briggs’ rejection represents the final straw for Mary as, earlier in the film, she proposes to her neighbor, Bob Giffen, but he also says no. Plus, Bob justifies his rejection by using a particularly savage insult, saying that Mary is “too bossy and plain-looking” to marry.

At 31 years old, Mary has never married or produced any children, and after Briggs turns down her proposal, it looks like her desire to become a wife and mother will never be fulfilled. Mary sees herself as a failure, especially because the primary function of women in the 1850s was to get married and bear many children. All the success Mary’s had with her occupation as a teacher and the considerable amount of land she owns feel meaningless to her because she feels she can’t fulfill her purpose as a woman.

She has also been living with prairie fever, brought on by her feelings of isolation while living in rural Nebraska, as she is originally from New York. Terrified at the prospect of living a lonely life under endless prairie skies, Mary takes her own life. Briggs finds her body but doesn’t ᴀssume any responsibility for her death, blaming the mental conditions of the three other women instead.

The Fates Of Briggs & The Women Are Left Unanswered

Hopefully, The Women Will Get The Treatment They Need

The audience is left to wonder what will happen to Briggs at the end of The Homesman. All he says is he’s going out west, so it can only be ᴀssumed he’s headed somewhere west of Iowa because his specific destination is never revealed.

It’s also unclear as to what Briggs will be doing once he gets to wherever he is going. Plus, the $300 Mary had promised him as payment for taking her party across the plains is now null and void because the Bank of Loupin Nebraska went under during the trip, so Briggs might not have enough money to start a new life.

Also, it’s not certain if Briggs will continue to propose to women in some kind of effort to make up for rejecting Mary’s proposal. Maybe, in his own way, he feels that finding a wife will honor Mary’s memory because that’s what she’s always wanted.

The specific fate of the three women isn’t explained, either. Briggs hands them off to Altha, and it looks like that’s the end of their story, as the remainder of The Homesman primarily focuses on Briggs. However, the women’s purpose was to travel to Iowa to receive treatment for their mental illnesses, so hopefully, that’s the next step in their plan, but it’s never explicitly stated.

The Real Meaning Of The Homesman’s Ending

It’s About Women’s Sacrifices

The Homesman looks at the harsh lives both men and women led during the 1850s, but it pays special attention to women’s plights. Mary Bee Cuddy perfectly represents the forgotten trials of prairie women. In the end, Mary is so broken by the isolation of the prairie and the restrictive gender roles of the 1800s that she takes her own life. Once she pᴀsses away, Mary’s life is not adequately celebrated. Instead, Briggs carves her name on a wooden slab that is meant to serve as her gravestone but also signifies the lack of respect that women experienced during this time.

The wooden slab bearing Mary’s name falls off the river ferry that Briggs is seen boarding at the end of the film. It floats away, going completely unnoticed by Briggs, which reinforces The Homesman‘s message — life was hard for women on the prairie, and so many of their memories and sacrifices have been forgotten.

Mary’s sacrifices are especially ignored because she was the one who wanted to help the other women by seeking treatment for their prairie fever. Still, Mary is seldom shown any respect by the people around her, especially Briggs, even though she looks out for women’s well-being. In The Homesman‘s end, Mary’s memory, like the memory of so many women of the American West, has drifted away from public consciousness.