‘Tender Offer’
Literary analysis of Tender Offer by Wendy Wasserstein
This paper discusses how themes, character and symbolism have been used to portray how individuals struggling under the bafflement of a capitalist society are victimized by the American dream that they try so hard to achieve. It explains how the main character Paul is totally caught up in his ideology of the illusory American dream and his ability to produce that lifestyle; however the relationship he has with his daughter Lisa is an absolute indication of his incapability to accept the cruel realities of life in a society that is capitalist (Rico& Guth, 29).
In the play, not much action seems to be taking place since none screams or cries as is usually the case with many other plays. However, there are great changes that take place within the characters (Rico& Guth, 29). The understated theme of the play gives emphasis to a specific failing in the lifestyle that the Americans lead and also the need for empathetic communication between a father who seems to have distanced himself from his daughter.
Wendy demonstrates that even in our daily experiences the most important and unique ingredient for ensuring effective communication is to have mutual understanding between the two. The main conflict in the play involves Paul who is Lisa’s dad and he has missed her dance recital. In the opening scene, LISA is practicing alone in the dance studio. Lisa begins her first line of the play by referring to Paul as just ‘a man’, and this shows that she sympathizes with Lisa.
Wendy uses realistic dialogue in the third line of the play and this is when most of the audience discovers that Paul is Lisa’s father. The dialogue is short and goes back and forth just like it happens in most households (Halpen, 15). This play clearly demonstrates the acts and disagreements and communications that are inadequate that take s place in most homes especially between fathers and their daughters. Paul truly cares about Lisa and is not snide and compassionless.
The characters employed by Wendy are significant in helping us comprehend the theme of the play. The character played by Lisa in Wendy’s play is more interested with living life rather than with money. Lisa fails to comprehend how her father could place business before other very significant aspects of her life for instance, the dance recital. She is portrayed as a classic nine year old American girl who totally dedicates her days to school and dance practices just like many other girls in America and worldwide (Halpen, 15).
To Lisa, dancing is the core of her life and the concerts that she performs are the essence of that life. The fact that she had a recital and she won a trophy second place is portrayed by the play to be the biggest achievements she could ever hope for. However, her father let her down by missing her recitals. Lisa portrays the character of events that we experience in our daily lives in societies that are so capitalist. Finances area awarded a great value in the lives of many people compared to other significant aspects of life.
When Lisa threw the trophy she won for getting the second place, it is clear evidence that the pride she felt when she won was meaningless without the support of her father and this is exactly what we as individuals endure in our lives. Lisa unconsciously feels that attaining a second place does not mean a thing and that her father is the winner sine if she is not a winner, then she is a loser (Ciociola, 128). This therefore makes her feel that her father will not want anything to do with her since she did not get the first place.
Characters’ emotions takes a better part of the play in question and particularly as they are portrayed by Lisa. It is from these emotions that the association Lisa has with her father weakens. Incorporation of the impact of emotions on characters’ actions and reactions has led to a situation whereby critics have continuously praised the author of this play for her sensitive social observation (Ciociola, 128).
More so, the resultant perceptive insights are realized from the manner in which Lisa behaves in order to attract her father’s attention and make it known to him that she really needed his presence around her as a sign of care and encouragement. Much of ‘Tender offer’ is characterized by emotional dialogue which turns out to undercut overall thematic gravity but from a more lenient point of view it is realized that it also tends to create a balance to main theme of the entire play (Ciociola, 128).
The play also presents considerable level of symbolism among them being Lisa’s aggressiveness. Having in mind that Lisa is a young female being, her much involvement in recitals and school work is an early sign of a career woman just like the author; Wendy. The fact that her father is too busy to realize and appreciate her efforts is symbolic of her role in feminism. In this case, she can be regarded as a young woman fighting for her rights and those of other women who are not shown enough recognition within the society. Lisa also makes it clear of her possession of capacity to make but is discouraged by lack of moral support which leads to her so called failure.
According to Lisa, it is possible for her as woman/girl to do marvelous if only the male gender; her father, showed confirm her significance within the society (Ciociola, 128). The fact that this theme of feminism is presented symbolically is critiqued to be as a result of flat characterization of supposed duty of Paul which in turn tends to undermine the actual importance of feminist themes incorporated within the play.
It also occurs to the audience that there is much dependence on emotional reaction of Lisa which has led to the questioning of emotional appeal as it relates to social issues. The manner in which feminism symbolism is displayed within this particular play serves as a topic of debate to a number of scholars who have questioned the actual level of reality as it is reflected therein (Ciociola, 128). As a result, these scholars have admitted that Lisa’s feminist symbolism points out issues significant to women. However, they still point out some level of deficiency in the manner in which it scarcely addresses importance of those particular concerns to the main victims here; the female gender.
Communication factor is also accorded much consideration in this particular case as it is through lack of appropriate communication that the association father and daughter have within the play continues to worsen. This is can be termed as symbolic to deficiency as well as inefficiency in communication level presented in feminism issues (Ciociola, 128). That, is it has taken the society quite a long period of time to recognize women and their capabilities as it is expected.
More so, communication of issues like feminism to the audience is also deficient as it mostly relies on the actual plot and flow rather that displaying the thematic importance appropriately. However, just as the main focus of this particular play is on significance of understanding in order to attain effective communication, a better comprehension of the manner in which to incorporate themes is required for better delivery of information to preferred audience.
From a global perspective, it is confirmed that fathers are spending very little hours with their children and it has very devastating effects on children. On a regular basis, studies have indicated that fathers are spending less than two hours daily in the presence of their children. According to the studies, a lot of children are in dire need of some kind of intervention, either through therapy or assistance from institutions in order to prevail over mal-adaptation feelings in their social backgrounds so that they can be able to form relationships that are healthy with their families.
From the symbolic point of view, women represented by Lisa are also accorded considerably minimal attention despite the much concern this issue has been given. It is found out that as women continue to show aggressiveness as they fight for their rights; the more the society is questioning their capability (Barnett, 199).
On the other women are more than ever involving themselves in advancing their careers and academic qualifications in order to prove their capacity to be as ‘victorious’ as women. It is evident that women are not ready to take anything less than the best out of them and society at large since they strongly believe in themselves.
This is portrayed by a situation whereby Lisa destroys her trophy to make it known to her father that what she had achieved was not her best as she had the potential to perform better as be as victorious as he was (Barnett, 199). The point here was that if only Lisa had some moral support just like the much being fought for by feminists, she would have increased her ultimate capacity to perform accordingly.
Work cited
Barnett, C. Wendy Wasserstein: a casebook, Taylor & Francis, 1999 pp 199
Ciociola, G. Wendy Wasserstein: dramatizing women, their choices and their boundaries, McFarland, 1998 pp 128
Halpen, D. Plays in one act, University of California, 2008 pp 15
Rico, G. & Guth, H. Discovering literature, Prentice Hall, 2000, pp 29
