Betsy’s new “Dramatic and Mysterious” identity, capped off by her re-branding as “Betsye,” captures the interest of Deep Valley High School heartthrob Phil Brandish. Phil is different from the boys in Betsy’s Crowd. He is new to town and a bit standoffish; he prefers to spend time with girls one on one than in groups. He even drives his own red auto! The girls in the Crowd peg him as a real catch.

Phil invites Betsy to the school dance and what Betsy later refers to as her first real love affair commences. Walking home from the dance, Phil tries to hold her hand. Betsy is unnerved; Julia had warned her that Phil might try to act “spoony.” Betsy puts a stop to Phil’s bold gesture, and Phil laughs, but kindly. The love affair is off to a solid, appropriate start.

Sexual attitudes have been among the biggest social changes in the last hundred or so years. In 1900, only about 6% percent of American women had engaged in premarital sex by the age of 19. That percentage is much higher today and has even been estimated to be over 70%, especially when a wide range of types of sexual behaviors are considered. Technological changes, such as contraception and increased access to information, are largely responsible for new sexual norms and attitudes. In Betsy’s day and environment, even kissing was reserved for the most serious of premarital relationships. And for the most part, only heterosexual relationships could be acknowledged publicly, due to the pathologizing and criminalization of homosexual activity of the time.

Betsy is careful to make sure that Phil never sees her silly, fun-loving side. She predicts, correctly, that he will neither understand nor appreciate it. After he observes her singing a raucous song parody that she invented about his red automobile, however, he becomes cold and distant, even though she tells him that she had devised the song long before they had become a couple. Betsy realizes that he really doesn’t know her, and also, that he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.

Still, it hurts when they break it off, which unfortunately happens the night before the annual Essay Contest, in which Betsy is again facing Joe Willard. Betsy must compete after a sleepless, tear-filled night, and, once again, she loses to Joe. But she is heartened that she had done her best this time, as opposed to her lackluster freshman year effort, and that she had only lost the love of someone who did not know her. For he had only known “Betsye.”

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On the history of premarital sex, see: https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/shame-game-one-hundred-years-economic-model-rise-premarital-sex-and-its-de

On historical trends in homosexuality in Minnesota, see Paige Daniels’ Hamline University departmental honors project: https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=dhp

In Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy experiences a growing sense of dissatisfaction with herself. She wishes she were more popular with boys in a romantic sense (though they flock to her house for food, song, and fun). She wishes she were more like Julia, an effortless flirt with whom boys regularly fall in love. When she confesses this to Tacy, Tacy is displeased, for she doesn’t like to see Betsy criticized, “even by Betsy herself” (p. 96, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1994).

Betsy has become attracted to Phil Brandish, a wealthy newcomer in town who doesn’t seem to know that she exists. If she could were fascinating and exotic, she figures, maybe he would notice her. It seems to Betsy that the best way to accomplish this would be to go out of town for a while and return different, with a fascinating new look and personality. As luck would have it, she is invited by the Mullers to visit Tib in Milwaukee for two weeks over the Christmas holiday, and Betsy eagerly accepts, even though it means spending Christmas away from her family.

Betsy travels from Deep Valley to Milwaukee by train, and is delighted by the experience. The early 1900s were a peak period for train travel in America; it was the primary means of transportation across great distances. Trains were dependable, comfortable, and fast, able to attain speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, and could offer amenities like the fancy dining car with white linen tablecloths that Betsy enjoyed. Throughout the 1900s, the rise of the automobile and airplane decentered the train as a means of transportation. Many train lines were discontinued and many others fell into disrepair. The rise of Amtrak, beginning in the 1970s, ushered in the current period of the standardization and reinvention of train travel.

Betsy opens a letter from Tacy on the train in which Tacy expresses her joy that Betsy is on such an exciting adventure and will soon see Tib. Betsy has the sudden realization that while Tacy’s large family cannot provide the same kind of experiences for their children as the Rays can, Tacy is never envious of Betsy’s good fortune. She is, quite simply, a wonderful person. This was the first time that the maturing Betsy “had ever consciously estimated her friend” (p. 115, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1994).

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On the history of train travel, see: https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/early-twentieth-century-railroads.htm

On the more recent history of train travel and Amtrak, see: https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/decline-of-railroads.htm

Betsy and Tib are joyfully reunited in Milwaukee. Two weeks in Christmas with Tib’s family is a perfect time for her to reinvent herself, Betsy decides. She wants to return to Deep Valley different somehow. Perhaps she can become more worldly and sophisticated, and maybe even attract the interest of Phil Brandish.

Most of the trip flies by before Betsy gets started on her reinvention. She enjoys becoming immersed in German-American culture: roving groups of singers and musicians, a visit to Grosspapa and Grossmama’s, the arrival of the Christkindel, the painting of the seven dwarf statues. Between the customs and all the parties, she hasn’t had the time, and isn’t particularly inclined, to execute a dramatic life change; in fact, she realizes that she is being more like herself than ever! New Year’s Eve, though, proves the perfect time and opportunity, and Tib agrees to stay up all night assisting with the project.

In the digital age, social media is often used as a means of self-expression and experimentation. Some people “try on” different personas for different spaces and audiences online, although it is common to do this offline as well. Digital technology makes it relatively easy to visually hide, and to play around with identity. Of course, this is not always a playful endeavor. Our modern digital age has seen a dramatic increase in technology-assisted identity theft, deception, stalking, scams, and other dangerous acts.

Betsy and Tib approach her experiment jovially but with an element of seriousness as well. When Betsy plans something, she expects results. She selects a new target personality (Dramatic and Mysterious, as opposed to Ethereal and Intellectual), hairstyle (pompadour), perfume (Jockey Club), color (green), walk (a stoop), and voice (low and sultry) to go along with it. She even changes the spelling of her name from Betsy to Betsye. She and Tib plan how she to introduce the new Betsye upon her return home. Tib reveals the possibility that her family may move back to Deep Valley someday, and the girls devise a silly persona for Tib as well.

Unsurprisingly, Betsy will find it difficult to pull off this transformation. She tries valiantly, and attracts Phil Brandish’s attention, but tends to slip back into her own ways when in the comfortable company of her family and friends. “Betsye” will complicate her burgeoning relationship with Phil, and teach her a thing or two about authenticity in relationships and in life.

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On the transformation of identity in digital spaces, and some of the dangers inherent in digital communication, see: Mary Chayko. 2021. Superconnected: The Internet, Digital Media, and Techno-Social Life (3rd Edition, SAGE) https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/superconnected-the-internet-digital-media-and-techno-social-life-3-259314

and

Mary Chayko, 2018. Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness. (SUNY Press) https://sunypress.edu/Books/P/Portable-Communities2