“ I'm not a shop boy. I was just working in a shop. ”
let’s take a minute here to just sit and think about how much tristan thorn refused to settle for less than he deserves. tristan knows that his value is much more than what he owns or what his title is, or even what he makes for money. In the specific case of the context of this quote, he knows he can offer victoria so much more than humphrey ever could.
" all the way to Ipswich"? victoria, for your hand in marriage, i'd cross oceans or continents. [...] victoria, for your hand in marriage, i would go to the gold fields of san francisco and bring you back your weight in gold. I'd go to africa and bring you back a diamond as big as your fist. or I'd go to the arctic and i'd slaughter a polar bear and bring you back its head. ”
he didn’t care that she was shallow, he didn’t see her ugly personality, the only thing tristan saw was how much he thought he loved her and how much he wanted to do anything to prove it.
and in all honesty; he did so much more than humphrey ever could have in a million years. despite the fact that he didn’t have a wealth of money to offer her, he simply wanted to make her the happiest woman on earth.
although it took tristan a while to finally see his value, there are two people i think had an enormous part in that. of course, first and foremost his father dunstan thorn. despite the fact that tristan had just told him that he lost his job, when he saw how distraught over the fact that tristan didn’t think he was good enough for victoria, dunstan refused to let him believe it.
“ so you don't fit with the popular crowd. now, i take that as a very good omen. ”
then, he gave him the letter from his mother containing the babylon candle and he met the second person i think helped tristan find his worth, and probably the most important; yvaine.
although they had a rocky start, i think without yvaine, tristan would have never realized that he TRULY deserved better than victoria. i think he would have spent his whole life dissapointed that he could never “get” victoria, and he would spend the entire rest of his life convinced that he was not good enough for anyone.
yvaine showed him victoria’s true colours, and continuously pointed out to him that he was going for someone not that he couldn’t get, but someone who didn’t truly deserve him. that he was chasing after someone who wasn’t doing anything to prove how she felt, yet was demanding that tristan PROVE his love for her.
“ The little I know about love is that it's unconditional. It's not something you can buy.”
and most importantly, yvaine taught tristan that he was so much more than just a shop boy. although he had been saying it himself for quite some time now, it didn’t really resonate with him until yvaine said it.
tristan: “ Look, I admire you dreaming. A shop boy like me... I could never have imagined an adventure this big in order to wish for it. I just thought I'd find some lump of celestial rock, take it home and that would be it. ”
yvaine: “ If there's one thing I've learned about all my years watching Earth, is that people aren't what they may seem. There are shop boys, and there are boys who just happen to work in a shop for the time being. And trust me Tristan, you're no shop boy. You saved my life. Thank you. ”
he learned so much from yvaine, and finally gained the courage to stand up to humphrey, to stand up to victoria, and to tell them that they were both shallow and terrible and they would live a happy life together.
