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The Intern · 2015 — Chapter 16 of 18 · 2'19" · B1

Benjamin Opens Up About His Marriage, Explained: pull off

The talk starts with tea and nerves, then drifts into marriage. "Not long enough," the reply to "Long marriage?" about a forty-two-year marriage, says more about loss than about length. When the subject gets too heavy, someone asks "Are you hungry?" and the snacks come out.

What happens

After being walked home, one person invites the other in for tea. One admits to being nervous about tomorrow, and the conversation drifts into marriage: a wife named Molly, a forty-two-year marriage, and what it takes to stay the same person for that long. Only later do the snacks come out.

Small talkComforting a friendAskingInvitingB1mediumamericanClean
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Listen for

ridiculously nervousgrow old togetherpull offhandle life

00:00 / 02:19
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  27. ❝ MonologueA Forty-Two-Year Marriage9 linesPractice page ↗
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Phrase of the scene

pull off

succeed in doing something difficult

Someone responds to the idea of never really changing by saying that such consistency is hard to achieve.

She can pull off a surprise party without anyone finding out.

Also in this scene

  • ridiculously nervous

    extremely nervous

  • grow old together

    spend old age as a couple

  • handle life

    deal with life's demands

  • bucks

    dollars

  • go crazy

    stop holding back and indulge

Everything marked in this scene

18 notes across 44 lines

Phrase · A1have tea

drink tea

I have a tea kettle. We could have tea or...
Phrase · B1nervous about something

anxious about tomorrow

I'm ridiculously nervous about tomorrow.
Soundnervous about

Let nervous flow into about; keep the a in about very light.

I'm ridiculously nervous about tomorrow.
Soundgonna sit

Keep gonna light and put the beat on sit and chair.

I thought you were gonna sit in a chair?
Slang · A2gonna

going to — Everyday speech only; avoid it in formal writing.

I thought you were gonna sit in a chair?
Phrase · B1let someone be here

allow me to stay not just stand here, but stay in the room with you

Please let me be here. I need to lie down, too.
Soundlet me

Blend let me into one quick unit; don't give t its own beat.

Please let me be here. I need to lie down, too.
Phrase · A2talk about something

discuss work

We don't have to talk about work or anything.
Phrase · B1tell someone about something

tell me about your wife

Will you tell me about your wife?
Phrase · B1middle-school principal

middle-school principal

She was a middle-School principal.
Phrase · A2not + long enough

not as long as one would want

Not long enough.
Phrase · B1never really change

never truly changed

And what was amazing is she never really changed.
Grammar · B2what was amazing

subject clause: The what-clause is the subject; the point is not the change itself but that it was amazing.

And what was amazing is she never really changed.
Grammar · B2a hard thing to pull off

infinitive postmodifier: The infinitive explains what would be hard to achieve.

That's a hard thing to pull off.
Grammar · B1Even when it wasn't

ellipsis: The missing easy is understood from the previous line: even when life was not easy.

Even when it wasn't.
Phrase · B1bring the whole thing

bring the whole package thing means the whole bag of snacks

I'm just gonna bring the whole thing.
Phrase · B1X bucks each

fifteen dollars each bucks means dollars, not male deer

You know those are like 15 bucks each?
Phrase · B2run a company

operate a large internet company run means operate, not jog

Benjamin, I run a very big internet company.

Benjamin Opens Up About His Marriage, explained

What's really going on

What's really going on is loneliness negotiating with itself. Someone asks "Will you tell me about your wife?" and the answer is a whole marriage in a few short lines: "Molly was her name", "Not long enough", "42 years." The phrase "grow old together" is usually a promise made at the start; here it is reported as something already completed, which is why "we did that" lands so quietly. The listening half doesn't console — "God, I envy that" — and that envy is the real subject: a life that looks finished and good, next to one still nervous about tomorrow. Then the offer of "gummy bears, chocolate chips, Pringles" and "Let's go crazy" — the thing people say when they'd rather not sit in the silence.

Theme

Death & griefA forty-two-year marriage is summed up in "Not long enough", which is how loss sounds when someone is still being polite about it.
LonelinessTwo people fill the room with tea and snacks so they don't have to name what's missing.

Listen for

  • nervous about — Let nervous flow into about; keep the a in about very light.
  • gonna sit — Keep gonna light and put the beat on sit and chair.
  • let me — Blend let me into one quick unit; don't give t its own beat.
I'm ridiculously nervous about tomorrow.

Said plainly, without dressing it up: the nervousness about what comes next is large enough to be funny, and admitting it is easier than pretending to be calm.

Will you tell me about your wife?

Not a request for information but an invitation: it lets the other person decide how much to say about a wife who is spoken of in the past tense.

You know when people say they want to grow old together?

A setup for a comparison. The phrase is a hope most couples repeat; the speaker is about to say that for them it stopped being a hope and became a fact.

She handled life like it was easy.

Praise for how someone carried difficulty, not for having an easy life — the effort is exactly what is being admired.

That's a hard thing to pull off.

An admiring verdict in this scene: staying the same person for decades isn't luck, it's something achieved.

Questions about this scene

Why does "Not long enough" land so hard?

Because it follows "Long marriage?" and comes just before "42 years." The number already sounds like a lot, and the short reply says even that wasn't enough time; the order makes the figure feel like a correction.

What does "we did that" refer to?

Growing old together. The setup is "You know when people say they want to grow old together?" and the payoff is "Well, we did that" — the common promise, reported as something already finished.

What does "pull off" mean here?

To succeed at something difficult. "And what was amazing is she never really changed." "That's a hard thing to pull off." Staying the same person for decades is treated as an achievement, not a small thing.

Why change the subject to snacks?

Right after "God, I envy that," the next line is "Are you hungry?" and a list of "gummy bears, chocolate chips, Pringles." The subject shifts without anyone saying the last one was too much.

Why say "Let's go crazy" about expensive snacks?

Because "15 bucks each" has just been pointed out, and the reply is that money isn't the issue. It's a light way of saying don't hold back.

The Intern · 18 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 17take the rapA Wife Reveals Her Husband's Affair
Chapter 1gave me the drillBen Meets His New BossChapter 2make the trains run on timeJules Is Told to Consider a CEOChapter 3goes without sayingBen Confronts the Drinking DriverChapter 4me timeTwo Parents Keep Dozing OffChapter 5slammedBen Arrives at Jules's HouseChapter 6stay-at-home dadJules Gets the Guacamole AssignmentChapter 7force of habitBen's Old Factory RevealChapter 8brownnoseIntern Sets Up Facebook ProfileChapter 9jumped the gunBen Gets His Job BackChapter 10I happen to thinkBecky Breaks Down at WorkChapter 11little does ... knowJules's Team Plans a Break-InChapter 12no such thing asFake Alarm at Jules's Mom's HouseChapter 13above and beyondCoworkers Toast After a HeistChapter 14glass ceilingBen Takes Paige to a Birthday PartyChapter 15bowl of mushBen Comes Back FlushedWatching · Chapter 16pull offBenjamin Opens Up About His MarriageChapter 17take the rapA Wife Reveals Her Husband's AffairChapter 18add upBen Talks Jules Out of Giving Up
Chapter 16 of 18 · about 8 min to go