The play’s setting is the dance studio where Lisa who is a little girl around the age of nine was performing earlier before her father’s arrival. The story begins when Lisa singing “ Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina” while performing a dance routine. She does this while waiting for her father Paul, a 35 year old man to come and pick her up. Lisa stops singing as soon as she notices her father. Paul encourages her to continue but she refuses. The raising action of the play is when Lisa is irritated that Paul was not present during her dance recital. Lisa does not seem to be content with Paul’s apologies and she answers his questions in a very flat tone. ” How’d it go?”/” Good”/“ Just good?”/“ You don’t want to be sexy?/“ I don’t care”.
She refuses to go home claiming that she could not find her leg warmers. This situation makes an ordeal of what escalates the tension between Paul and Lisa. The tension escalates to a climax when Lisa goes ahead and collects her trophy but then throws it away to show her disgust. The climax of this play is when she tells her father that the trophy is just stupid. She even directly confronts her father directly telling him that she hated him. Paul apologizes sincerely instead of getting defensive. This seems to tone down the tension that was between them. The falling action of this paly is when Paul introduces the story of the black and white knight. She offers Lisa a tender offer better than the white knight’s offer. This seems to cool down Lisa as they now converse on a much lighter note Lisa. The resolution of this anticlimax comes when Paul stands and begins to sing “ Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina,” the same song Lisa was singing at the beginning of the play. This brings about the resolution of the conflict inherent at the beginning.
The main characters talks about in the play, “ Tender Offer” are Lisa who plays as a daughter and Paul who as Lisa’s father. Lisa has a good talent in dance. When she asked the reason to Paul why he came late, Paul answered her that he was in a meeting. She cannot understand how Paul could place business before important event in her life, like the dance recital. Lisa feels dissapointed, sad, lonely, and anger to her father. She got a trophy for her talent, but was not enough to make her happy. When she cast her second-place trophy in the trash, it is evident that without the support of her father, her pride in winning has disappeared. Lisa feels second-place is nothing.
When Paul asked her why she ceased dancing, she gave him curt responses. Lisa was very short and not in the mood for conversation. All Lisa wanted is for that void to filled by her father making time with her because he really wants to and that is not by appoinment. Paul, a typical father whose job is more important than his daughter. He worked hard to support his family and secure a future for Lisa. Everything seems to revolve around his job rather than his family. Paul looks to try to understand where his daughter is coming from and looks like his trying to make a solid effort at the end of the play to be more responsible. That is responsible to his daughters feelings and wants.
