Uncle Frank, what is it like living in New York City?Uncle Frank · 2020 — Chapter 2 of 17 · 3'05" · B2
Frank Lets Beth Rename Herself, Explained: get to choose
A teenager asks her uncle what New York is like and admits her parents won't even let her leave town. The talk about grades and colleges keeps circling one idea: "or are you gonna be the person everyone else tells you you are?" She wants a different name, and he tells her she can take one.
What happens
At a family meal, a teenage girl asks her uncle about life in New York and confesses that her parents won't even let her go to majorette camp. He asks about her grades, tells her she could win a scholarship anywhere, and then turns it into a question about who she intends to become. By the end she has chosen the name Beth.
Listen for
the beer talkingget to choosenot only do you ...more than happy to do something
00:00 / 03:05Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
Tap a line to replay it
Phrase of the scene
get to choose
to have the chance or right to choose
弗兰克告诉贝蒂 you get to choose，把决定自己是谁的权力交还给她。
You get to choose how you spend your twenties.
Also in this scene
- the beer talking
words caused by drink, not meant seriously
- not only do you ...
used to emphasize the first of two escalating points
- more than happy to do something
very willing and glad to do something
Everything marked in this scene
30 notes across 55 lines
used to emphasize the first of two escalating points
not only do you see how small your world was, you also see how much bigger it could become.inversion after not only
not only do you see how small your world was, you also see how much bigger it could become.In ways you never even thought possible.If your parents agree to it.if-clause
If your parents agree to it.liaison
If your parents agree to it.They wouldn't even let me go to majorette camp.Well, Daddy, he said, no daughter of his was gonna prance around half naked in front of the whole town.Mama says it's just the beer talking.flap
Mama says it's just the beer talking.Good. Keep that up.Ace your SAT.You could get a scholarship to just about anywhere you want to go.elision
You could get a scholarship to just about anywhere you want to go.You gonna be the person you decide to be,to have the chance or right to choose
'Cause you get to choose.I wish I wasn't named Betty.I can't just change my name.You can do anything you want.And there are so many things a Beth can accomplish besides being a majorette.Yes, she is, and please don't do what your idiot cousin Marsha did.She got herself pregnant, and now she's gonna have to marry that imbecilic young man.She got herself pregnant, and now she's gonna have to marry that imbecilic young man.If ever you need me to pretend to be your father so you can get birth control,very willing and glad to do something
I will be more than happy to do that.And if you do find yourself getting knocked up,find oneself doing
And if you do find yourself getting knocked up,And if you do find yourself getting knocked up,you call me first before you talk to anyone else in this family.Frank Lets Beth Rename Herself, explained
What's really going on
The scene looks like small talk, but the girl is testing whether anyone in this family will back her up. "or are you gonna be the person everyone else tells you you are?" is the whole argument in one line: the town, the father, the name Betty, all of it is something other people decided for her. The offer to choose a new name sounds playful, yet it is the first real permission she has been given. When the uncle promises to pretend to be her father for birth control, the joke carries the same claim, that she can come to him before the family's judgment does: "you call me first before you talk to anyone else in this family." Nothing here is a lecture; every line is one adult quietly telling a teenager she is allowed to want more.
Theme
IdentityA girl is offered a new name and, with it, the idea that who she is isn't fixed by her family or her town.
Coming of ageThe scene is a teenager's first real lesson that leaving and choosing are possible, delivered by the one relative who left.
What you'll learn
- Use get to choose for personal agency
- Hear the beer talking as drunken talk
- Ace a test means score very high
- Knocked up is informal for pregnant
Listen for
- agree to it — liaison
- beer talking — flap
- want to go — elision
not only do you see how small your world was, you also see how much bigger it could become.Leaving a small town doesn't just reveal how narrow home was; it opens up a life you never imagined. The line is the whole case for getting out.
or are you gonna be the person everyone else tells you you are?The real question of the scene: whether she will live by her own choice or by everyone else's version of her.
you call me first before you talk to anyone else in this family.A promise that she can come to him first, before the family's judgment and before she has to face anything alone.
And there are so many things a Beth can accomplish besides being a majorette.He turns the new name into a whole future: Beth isn't just a nicer sound, she is proof there is more to her than majorette and marriage.
Questions about this scene
Why does Betty want to change her name?
She feels the name was handed to her by a family that decides everything else for her. Choosing 'Beth' is a small way of claiming a life she picks herself.
Why can't Betty go to majorette camp?
Her father thinks it means prancing around half naked in front of the town, and he says something cruel about what would happen to her. Her mother dismisses it as the beer talking.
Why does the uncle tell Betty she gets to choose?
He wants her to know she is allowed to decide who she becomes instead of accepting the identity her family and town assign her. It is permission, not just a pep talk.
Why does the uncle offer to pretend to be her father?
So she can get birth control without her parents' involvement. It shows he would rather help her than let the family's rules put her at risk.
What does 'the beer talking' mean?
It means the cruel thing her father said was just drunk talk and should not count. Her mother uses it to wave away a threat made against her daughter.
Uncle Frank · 17 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 3slave awayCharlotte Meets Frank's Family
Chapter 1pick on someoneDaddy Mac Mocks Frank's Gift
Watching · Chapter 2get to chooseFrank Lets Beth Rename Herself
Chapter 3slave awayCharlotte Meets Frank's Family
Chapter 4try meBruce and Beth Meet at College
Chapter 5take no for an answerFrank Comes Out to Beth
Chapter 6in my bloodWally Pushes Frank to Come Out
Chapter 7push someone awayFrank Pushes Wally Away After the Call
Chapter 8worth the troubleBeth Opens Up to Frank
Chapter 9there for meWally Shows Up at Frank's Door
Chapter 10Nice always hides somethingWally Asks Beth About Frank
Chapter 11kept in touchMike Apologizes to Frank
Chapter 12make up her own mindBeth Defends Staying at the Motel
Chapter 13turn his back on youMac Bledsoe's Eulogy and Threats
Chapter 14the female frontAunt Butch Grills Frank at the Wake
Chapter 15nothing but disgustThe Will Humiliates Frank
Chapter 16say it to my faceFrank Breaks Down at the Graveside
Chapter 17so much in commonFrank Introduces Wally to the FamilyChapter 2 of 17 · about 39 min to go