Tender Offer: A Literary Analysis

If you look in a dictionary for the word comparison you would see, " The considering of two things with some regard to characteristic that is common to both, as the likening of a hero, to a Lion in courage"(Dictionary.com). In this case, I chose to delve into the realm of comparison with the two marvelous works of drama known as "Fences" by August Wilson, and "The Tender Offer" by Wendy Wasserstein. Both artists are American Play writers born around the time of the 50s who are renowned for their masterpieces of work and also both have won a Pulitzer Prize for their writing style. Both artists seem to have a manner of expression that resembles each other’s work alike. I also noticed both works of drama have a very similar style of theme that

the authors used to their advantage to bring the audience closer into small details of the play that persuades emotion. In a comparison essay of "Tender Offer" and "Fences", I ignite together just exactly what similar aspects of theme, dialogue, character use, and setting the stories invoke upon each other.
First, It is very apparent that both stories have similar themes that they use to help guide the audiences emotion on a track just as a roller coaster does. In the story "The Tender Offer", we see a father who is late to his daughters dance recital. He wanted to be there on time for his only daughter, but work restrictions hold him up making him miss almost the entire dance recital. The reader gets a sense of the relationship with the father when the drama starts off with, “A girl of around nine is alone in a dance studio. She is dressed in traditional leotards and tights. She begins singing to herself, "Nothing Could Be Finer Than to Be in Carolina." She maps out a dance routine, including parts for the chorus. She builds to a finale. A man, PAUL, around thirty-five, walks in. He has a sweet, though distant, demeanor. As he walks in, LISA notices him and stops”(Wasserstein). He is very proud obviously of his daughter, but it doesn’t show right away. On the other side of the fence with the story of “Fences”, we see the similar father- child relationship setting up the tone for the rest of the story just as Wasserstein does with her story. The main character of August Wilson’s story, Troy, tells his co-worker that he I very proud of his son Cory. He exclaims how a college football team has recruited Cory, and the college coach is coming to visit. Even though this is so, the father really wants Cory to go to school and learn to trade. “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football. I told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living”(Wilson). These two examples of both dramas are really important to both stories in a comparison essay because it gives the audience a foreshadow of both, aspects of uncertainty that will come up more as the story unfolds.
Another very similar aspect that I saw when exploring “Fences”, and “The Tender Offer”, was the use of dialogue in the story.

The father of both stories always turned out to be the villain, even if what he wants is best for his child. This shows how both stories were written around the dialogue of tough love. This notion recently stated is made evident when Paul, the main character of “The Tender Offer” states, “ PAUL: Honey, we’ll talk on the weekend, I promise. Aren’t I taking you to the theater this weekend? Let me look. [He takes out appointment book.] Yes. Sunday. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Raincoat with Lisa. Okay, Tiger? (Wasserstein). You can see here that even though he is busy with work to try to support his daughter, Paul is still trying to do his best in raising his daughter and making time for her. In the story of “Fences”, we see that same style of dialogue when the main Troy says no to his son about a 200$ TV he wanted to have his father buy. The father use to be a famous black baseball player, but times would not allow him to play with white players. He had to get a Job as a trash-man and now values the truth of hard work and earing what you have rather than a dream of baseball. Troy snaps back and says, “Two hundred and sixty-four dollars...cash money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be thinking about the roof...and whatever else goes wrong around here. Now if you had two hundred dollars, what would you do...fix the roof or buy a TV

(Wilson)? Even though the father looks like the classic villain of the story by saying no to his son getting the tv he wanted, It was because he need the money to fix the roof to support his entire family, Including his son complaining to him.
A final comparison to be made between both stories is the fact that both authors really focused on the climax of the story with their children and just how that played back in the title of the story.

In “The Tender Offer”, the climax of the story happens when the father gives the daughter an offer to be a better dad. “ I’ll make you a tender offer. That’s when a company publishes in the newspaper that they want to buy another company. And the company that publishes is called the Black Knight because they want to gobble up the poor little company. So the poor little company needs to be rescued. And then a White Knight comes along and makes a bigger and better offer so the shareholders won’t have to tender shares to the Big Black Knight. You with me” (Wasserstein). This tender offer changes the rest of the story in that the daughter shifts her anger into love for the father, and all is made okay. In “Fences”, the Father and son have a seasoned finale style fist fight. Troy tells the son Cory to pack his things and to fend for himself. He tells his son he is not allowed in the house an he will leave his things on the outside of the Fence. This is so important to the rest of the story because it represents how the relationship of Troy and his son Cory have. They built a lasting fence between each other, and they were never able to get past the fact. The father dies eight years later. Even after eight entire years of thinking about for forgiveness, the son refuses to attend the

father’s funeral. This just cements the fact that an invisible “fence” was built and now could never be broken. Some things were better left unsaid.
In a comparison essay of "Tender Offer" and "Fences", I ignited together just exactly what similar aspects of theme, symbols, and dialogue the stories shared. It is very apparent both works of drama used a very similar use of theme that brought the audience to think about the past relationship of the characters before the story takes place. Focusing on the elements of drama, “Fences” and “The Tender Offer” had many similar aspects through out them, and I would recommend these works of drama to anyone who is a fan of American struggles of and literature.