a man who supports a child as a guardian
Warren opens his letter by naming himself Ndugu's new foster father through a charity program.
My name is Warren R. Schmidt and I am your new foster father.About Schmidt · 2002 — 第 3 / 16 章 · 3'20" · B2
Warren's Video Letter to Ndugu, Explained：work out that way
A newly retired man introduces himself to a sponsored child he will never meet. What sounds like a form letter becomes a confession: "I was gonna be one of those guys you read about," he says, then admits the life he planned never happened.
あらすじ
In his Omaha home, Warren Schmidt sits down to record a video letter for Ndugu, the child he sponsors through Childreach. He lists the facts of his life — Omaha, his brother Harry, 66 years old, just retired from Woodmen of the World — then turns on the insurance kid who replaced him and confesses that he once expected to be somebody.
注目の表現
foster fatherunder his belta damn thingfor that matter
00:00 / 03:20Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
このシーンの表現
foster father
a man who supports a child as a guardian
Warren opens his letter by naming himself Ndugu's new foster father through a charity program.
A foster father in another city wrote to him every month.
このシーンの他の表現
- under his belt
gained as experience
- a damn thing
anything at all, with emphasis
- for that matter
and about that too
- go public
start selling shares to the public
- put something at risk
expose something to danger
このシーンのメモ一覧
41 行のセリフに 18 件のメモ
lose a limb because of an illness
Harry lost a leg two years ago to diabetes.retire from a particular post
...and recently retired as assistant vice president and actuary...swap one person for another
And goddamn it if they didn't replace me with some kid who...gained as experience
Warren concedes the new man has a little theory under his belt before tearing him down.
All right, so maybe he's got a little theory under his belt...recognize immediately
...but I could tell right off that he doesn't know a damn thing...and about that too
Warren adds for that matter to extend his dismissal from risk work to managing a department.
Or managing a department, for that matter.a harsh insult for a man — A harsh insult used behind someone's back, not in polite company.
Little cocky bastard.look at oneself honestly
Because when I look in the mirror and see the wrinkles around my eyes...time clause: The when-clause sets the moment; the main clause delivers the shock of recognition.
Because when I look in the mirror and see the wrinkles around my eyes...once believed regularly
When I was a kid, I used to think that maybe I was special...found one's own company
...and was planning to start my own business someday.start selling shares to the public
Warren recalls his old plan to build a company and watch it go public, a road he never took.
Build it up into a big corporation. Watch it go public, you know?end up differently than planned
But somehow, it just didn't work out that way.Got to collapses into gotta, with the t softened between vowels.
You've gotta remember, I had a top-notch job at Woodmen...expose something to danger
Warren justifies skipping the business dream: he would not put his family's security at risk.
I couldn't exactly put their security at risk.parenthetical: You might ask is a parenthetical aside that voices the reader's question.
But what about my family, you might ask.a sense of pride and fulfillment
Don't they give me all the pride and satisfaction I could ever want?「Warren's Video Letter to Ndugu」を読み解く
What's really going on
The form is addressed to a child, but the audience is Warren himself. Alone after a lifetime at one company, he uses the letter to say the things nobody in Omaha wants to hear: the retirement party, the cocky replacement, the mirror he no longer recognises. "The truth is it sounds pretty old to me too," he admits, and the politeness of the format lets him go further than he could face-to-face. The turn comes with "I was gonna be one of those guys you read about" — the dream he can still name, followed by the flat verdict that "it just didn't work out that way." He is not asking Ndugu for anything; he is discovering, sentence by sentence, that he has become ordinary.
Theme
DreamsWarren measures his whole life against the great-man future he once assumed was his, and finds it wanting.
LonelinessHe performs warmth for a child he has never met because there is no one nearby left to hear him.
このチャプターで学べること
- Go public turns a private company into a listed one.
- Under his belt counts experience already earned.
- Didn't work out that way names a life that took another road.
- Foster father is a sponsor here, not a legal parent.
発音のポイント
- gotta — Got to collapses into gotta, with the t softened between vowels.
The truth is it sounds pretty old to me too.He drops the polite voice for a second: the age he is reading off a script is the age he actually feels, which makes it worse.
But somehow, it just didn't work out that way.The sentence that turns the introduction into a confession: no villain, no disaster, just a life that quietly went somewhere other than planned.
Don't they give me all the pride and satisfaction I could ever want?The question he asks for the camera and half-answers himself: he wants it to be true, and the pause afterwards suggests it isn't.
I was gonna be one of those guys you read about.The dream stated plainly before he admits it failed: not famous, just notable enough to appear in someone else's story.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Warren record a video letter for Ndugu?
He is newly retired and has no one to really talk to. The Childreach sponsorship gives him a stranger he can address without being interrupted or judged.
Why is Warren so bitter about the man who replaced him?
Because the young successor is everything Warren once wanted to be — and Warren reads his confidence as proof he skipped the real-world judgment Warren spent decades earning.
Does Warren actually blame Helen for the life he didn't get?
He half-blames her — "She wouldn't have allowed it" — then catches himself and insists his family gave him all the pride and satisfaction he could want.
Is Ndugu a real child Warren knows?
No. Ndugu is a sponsored child overseas Warren has never met; the letters are really a diary for a man with no one else to confide in.
What does "I was gonna be one of those guys you read about" reveal?
It's the line where the polite self-introduction turns honest: Warren admits he expected to be exceptional, and is still measuring himself against a life he never lived.
アバウト・シュミット · 全 16 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 4 章up to snuffWarren Complains About His Wife
第 1 章retire in gloryRay's Toast at the Retirement Dinner
第 2 章bigger fish to fryJeannie's Long-Distance Call Home
再生中 · 第 3 章work out that wayWarren's Video Letter to Ndugu
第 4 章up to snuffWarren Complains About His Wife
第 5 章if there's anything you needWarren at Helen's Funeral Reception
第 6 章keep your options openWarren Tries to Postpone the Wedding
第 7 章splurge onJeannie Fights Warren Over the Casket
第 8 章make the best ofWarren Writes Ndugu About Helen's Death
第 9 章maiden voyageJohn Rusk Invites Warren to Dinner
第 10 章you shouldn't haveWarren Has Dinner With the Rusks
第 11 章put a good face on thingsVicki Sees Through Warren
第 12 章easy on the eyeWarren Meets Randall's Family
第 13 章up to snuffWarren Tells Jeannie Not to Marry
第 14 章on cloud nineRoberta Gives Warren Expired Pills
第 15 章insist on its own wayRandall and Jeannie's Wedding
第 16 章pitch inWarren Toasts Jeannie and Randall第 3 / 16 章 · 残り約 47 分