What does the choice of Monroe, especially after divorcing one's gay husband, say about Alma (and I see something more positive in her choice and how it relates to the idea of the Old/New American West and the stereotype of the American cowboy)?
We don't really know since Monroe has so few speeches in the film, but my feeling is that with her second choice she has gone for someone who she knows actually resembles her enough that they can live in harmony. They have the same soft, serious, sincere, well-intentioned vibe. Like a lot of women Alma is discovering how nice it is to have a partner who is likely to agree without a fuss, think the same way, be as reasonable as they are.
Think about how disappointed so many women are that their husbands or dates are not reacting to this very film the way they are!
I'm quoting myself here, but it's because I really want to know if anyone else picks up this hint of Alma-and-Monroe-are-soft-spiritual-buddies vibe. I don't think the film is taking a pot shot at Monroe, he is just another symbol of the new West. I think the knife is a meant as a mildly droll period touch, consistent with Monroe who undoubtedly likes neat, civilized looking slices. A very nice contribution of the props people since it is not so specified in the screenplay. Alma probably likes it too because it is not anything someone is going to come after her with. Monroe cares about what Alma wants - economically, socially, sexually, emotionally. He probably would not object if she wanted to continue working after marriage whereas there are two scenes which showed Ennis unappreciative or unhappy about her working - the grocery, where it was interfering with her role as babysitter, and the swing scene where he was yelling at her running off to work because she 'took the extra shift' and so can't serve them up their supper (as if cooking it and leaving it on the stove weren't enough). It's just conventional Hollywood films that take pot shots at less 'masculine' men - less masculine by dominant conservative male standards, not by female standards.
People always begin reacting to extraordinary films as if they were looking at ordinary, manipulative ones. They laugh where they think they're expected to laugh until it starts to break through to them that they are being given the opportunity to respond to this film as individuals. Hence the titters, so quickly suppressed, when Alma sees Ennis and Jack the first time on the landing.