...little dinner now, and celebrate Christmas.The Shop Around the Corner · 1940 — Chapter 18 of 19 · 3'11" · B2
Matuschek Invites a Lonely Boy Home, Explained: your whole life ahead of you
On Christmas Eve the shop owner keeps drifting back into his empty store. He offers one employee a bottle of champagne, asks a young worker about his family, and learns the boy has no relations in the city at all. "I just wanted to be sure that you weren't alone."
What happens
Late on Christmas Eve, Matuschek, the shop's owner, is still hanging around his store. He invites a young worker to Biro's for champagne, but the man has other plans. He wishes the others a merry Christmas, then turns to Rudy, the seventeen-year-old, and learns the boy has no family in Budapest. He asks him to dinner.
Listen for
way over my headyour whole life ahead of youit's up to youno other relations
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Phrase of the scene
your whole life ahead of you
you still have your whole future in front of you
马图谢克得知鲁迪才十七岁，感慨这正是好年纪，对他说 You've got your whole life ahead of you，说他往后还有一整个人生。
Don't be discouraged; you have your whole life ahead of you.
Also in this scene
- way over my head
far beyond my ability or budget
- it's up to you
the choice or outcome depends on you
- no other relations
no other relatives
Everything marked in this scene
33 notes across 59 lines
Uh.. Have you ever been to Biro's?present perfect for experience
Uh.. Have you ever been to Biro's?far beyond my ability or budget
Oh, no sir, I'm afraid that's way over my head.Oh, well, but Christmas only comes once a year.How about joining me and we'll break a bottle of champagne together?Mr. Matuschek, I-I'd love nothing more but I-- Oh, you-you have another engagement, huh?Well, it-it's just a-- No, no, shh! Not another word.liaison
Well, it-it's just a-- No, no, shh! Not another word.Well, have a wonderful time, and-and Merry Christmas.I presume you're going to have a nice little party at your house tonight.be going to for future plans
I presume you're going to have a nice little party at your house tonight.Yes, I should say.Oh, thank you, Flora and please give my regards to your mother.Still hanging around the shop, eh, Mr. Matuschek?- Yeah. - Can't get away from here, huh?Well, you'd better hurry home, son.Mr. Matuschek, I don't know how to thank you for that marvelous present.Oh, that's alright. What was your name?you still have your whole future in front of you
You've got your whole life ahead of you.liaison
You've got your whole life ahead of you.the choice or outcome depends on you
But it's up to you what you make of it.But it's up to you what you make of it.it as a formal subject with a clause
But it's up to you what you make of it.Well, uh, you better not squander that money.You take it home and give it to your mother, huh?liaison
You take it home and give it to your mother, huh?My people don't live here in town, Mr. Matuschek.no other relatives
Have you no other relations here?You mean you're all alone in Budapest on Christmas Eve?Yeah, and, uh, and what would you think of roast goose stuffed with baked apples?And fresh boiled potatoes and butter and some red cabbage on the side, huh?weak form
And fresh boiled potatoes and butter and some red cabbage on the side, huh?Matuschek Invites a Lonely Boy Home, explained
What's really going on
The store is closing and nearly everyone has somewhere to go; that is exactly what makes this scene sting. The owner keeps finding excuses to stay, inviting one man for champagne, asking another about his wife and children, and the repeated "Merry Christmas" starts to sound less like cheer and more like a man putting off an empty apartment. When he tells the youngest worker "You've got your whole life ahead of you," it is advice, but it also measures the distance between seventeen and his own age. The real turn is the quiet question about family, then the discovery that the boy has no one. He does not send him home; he offers him dinner and the food keeps coming — a Christmas feast listed item by item, ending in a taxi.
Theme
LonelinessEveryone around the owner has a family to go home to, and the boy with no relations in the city mirrors the owner's own empty Christmas.
Family loveThe Christmas dinner he offers the lonely boy becomes the family the boy lacks, and the warmth the owner wants to give.
What you'll learn
- Invite someone with How about + -ing
- Hear way over my head as beyond budget
- Use up to you for personal choice
- Describe holiday loneliness with all alone
Listen for
- Not another word — liaison
- whole life ahead of you — liaison
- take it home — liaison
- on the side — weak form
But it's up to you what you make of it.The line hands the boy both freedom and responsibility: his age and his future are a gift, but what he becomes is his own choice.
Oh, well, but Christmas only comes once a year.His cheerful answer to the worry that Biro's is too expensive: the occasion is rare enough to justify the splurge.
You've got your whole life ahead of you.Said to a seventeen-year-old, it is encouragement and, at the same time, a quiet reminder of how much of life is already behind the speaker.
I just wanted to be sure that you weren't alone.After the invitation is turned down, he admits the real reason for asking: not the champagne, but not wanting anyone to spend the holiday by themselves.
- Yeah. - Well, I'm her Santa Claus.The young worker's proud one-liner: the money from his present is going to a girl on the corner, making him her secret Santa.
Questions about this scene
Why does Matuschek keep hanging around the shop on Christmas Eve?
He has nowhere he seems eager to be. He keeps finding people to talk to and things to ask, and he offers to take a man out for champagne rather than head home, so an empty evening is clearly what he is avoiding.
Why does he invite Rudy to dinner?
Once he learns the boy is alone in Budapest with no other relations, he stops treating him as just an errand boy. He asks about soup, then goose, then strudel, and before long he is calling a taxi to take him along.
Does Rudy accept the invitation?
Yes, and happily. He says he certainly likes chicken noodle soup and would love the rest of the menu, and the scene ends with the two of them leaving together in a taxi.
What does 'way over my head' mean when the employee says it?
It means far beyond what he can afford. Biro's is a grand restaurant, and his reply is that such a place is out of his league, not that he cannot understand it.
Why does Matuschek tell Rudy to take the money home to his mother?
It is the boy's Christmas present, and he assumes Rudy has a family to bring it to. The advice is meant kindly, a warning against squandering it, and it changes once he hears the boy has no relations in town.
The Shop Around the Corner · 19 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 19swept me off my feetKlara Confesses to Kralik
Chapter 1make something out of nothingMorning Gossip at Matuschek's
Chapter 2earn one's daily breadThe Anonymous Letter From Box 237
Chapter 3make up your mindMatuschek's Singing Cigarette Box
Chapter 4go through the whole routineA Job Seeker's Sales Pitch
Chapter 5have a weakness forSelling the Musical Candy Box
Chapter 6knock on woodKralik Reveals His Pen Pal
Chapter 7pick on someoneMatuschek Turns on Kralik
Chapter 8call it a dayKlara Asks Kralik for a Night Off
Chapter 9of one's own accordMatuschek Fires Kralik
Chapter 10mind your own businessMatuschek Learns of the Affair
Chapter 11had enough bad news for todayKralik's Blind Date Is Miss Novak
Chapter 12instead of a heart, a handbagKralik and Novak Meet at the Cafe
Chapter 13kept in strictest confidenceMatuschek Confesses His Jealousy
Chapter 14a yes manKralik Fires Vadas
Chapter 15not in the same planetKralik Visits a Sick Klara
Chapter 16ruin ChristmasThe Staff Choose Christmas Gifts
Chapter 17from the bottom of my heartMatuschek Returns on Christmas Eve
Watching · Chapter 18your whole life ahead of youMatuschek Invites a Lonely Boy Home
Chapter 19swept me off my feetKlara Confesses to KralikChapter 18 of 19 · about 4 min to go