Chapter 9 of 18 · 3'29"
Elsa tells Jojo about Nathan, the fiancé she believes is coming to rescue her, and how he proposed. Jojo cannot stand being outdone, so he invents a letter that says Nathan has found someone else and is letting her go. "If she had a heart, this would break it clean in two," he says before reading it anyway.
❝ Monologue · 8 lines Jojo Forges a Letter From Nathan
Up in the attic, Jojo tries to get information about Elsa's family and is told he is not privileged to know it. She talks instead about Nathan, her fiancé, who she believes will rescue her and take her to Paris. When Jojo cannot match her story, he makes up a cruel letter from Nathan that ends the engagement.
The scene lets the two children try to wound each other with words, and shows how badly Jojo needs to win. Elsa's story of Nathan is a private, tender thing, complete with a proposal by the river and a line from Rilke about letting each other go. Jojo cannot produce anything to match it, so he invents the opposite: a farewell letter that strips her dream down to abandonment. The cruelty is deliberate, and he knows it — "If she had a heart, this would break it clean in two" — which is exactly why he reads it aloud. What he does not see yet is that Elsa's tenderness is the stronger position, and his invention only reveals how empty his own world has become.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I'll tell you about the Jews, but you are not privileged to know about my family.”
It gives him the information he wants while keeping her family strictly off-limits.
Formal
“You and your stupid boyfriend can shut up and go live in damn cheese, snail, baguette land.”
A pile of French foods turns jealousy into a childish, memorable insult.
Informal
“You'll meet someone and spend your days dreaming of the moment you can hold them in your arms again.”
It captures longing as an everyday routine, gentle enough to sound like a promise.
literary
“If she had a heart, this would break it clean in two.”
The fake condition pretends she has no heart, then makes the cruelty sound physical.
Informal
“"It's like my favorite poet, Rilke, says, "'We need in love to practice only this: letting each other go.'”
Dressing a petty breakup in a great poet's words makes the cruelty absurdly grand.
literary
“"So, goodbye and sorry about letting you go.”
The breezy apology makes the breakup colder than any angry goodbye.
Neutral
"Dear Elsa, this is hard for me to say, "but I don't want to marry you anymore. "I found a new woman and we laugh a lot "and do the tongue-kiss. "It's like my favorite poet, Rilke, says, "'We need in love to practice only this: letting each other go.' "So, goodbye and sorry about letting you go. "From Nathan, your ex-fiancé. "PS, I'm not really in the resistance. "I was lying. I'm unemployed and quite fat now."
Up next · 10figure it outThe scene: Rosie Explains Why We DanceBecause Elsa's story of love and reunion leaves him with nothing to say. Unable to compete, he turns cruel and forges a breakup letter, knowing it will hurt her more than anything he could argue.
Nathan is Elsa's fiancé, or so she believes. She says he is fighting with the resistance and will come to rescue her, and his memory is tied to poetry, the river and her hope for Paris.
It claims Nathan has found another woman, is no longer in the resistance, and is unemployed and fat, and it ends with goodbye and an apology for letting her go, plus a borrowed line from Rilke.
Because it is what keeps her going while she is hidden and hunted. The proposal, the poetry and the plan to escape to Paris are not just memories; they are the future she is holding on to.
