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The Two Offers
Penned at the height of the Romantic Era (1859), Frances Ellen Watkins's, "Two Offers", is a short story based on domestication, morale, and Christian values. During a time when men ruled in both society and in the home, how interesting for a woman to be presented with two life-altering offers. This story explores what the unfamiliar territory ‘choice’ was for women then and depicts the very motives that lay at the helm of such a decision. This story finds cousins, Laura Lagrange and Janette Alston, weighing in on two apparent offers of marriage. Their commentary on these offers was more than mere opinions; it would become the bed in which each woman would eventually have to lie in, indefinitely. These perspectives were a page out of a century when many women felt domestication was more important than self-discovery.
"Talk as you will of woman's deep capacity for loving, of the strength of her affectional nature. I do not deny it; but will the mere possession of any human love, fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being?"
Both Laura and Janette make decisions which ultimately seals their own fates, respectively. The bigger discussion is whether or not each of the decisions made were in each woman’s best interest? Or, did they make the decision based upon what was acceptable in society at the time. It could also be asked if the basis for each decision were relative to fear of the unknown? (Five more discussion questions are included with this story) As both love and death are romanticized in sultry lyrical lamentation, the question, “Will any human love fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being?” painfully unfolds in a series of unfortunate events and sobering revelations. Subsequently, unwavering faithfulness to the ideal of being a traditional woman poses its own consequences, though they differ from those women who dared to charter the more nonconventional paths toward modernism. Laura and Janette seem to be firm in their resolution on each path they would sojourn; however, neither woman was adequately prepared to comprehend the anguish that laid on the other side of each decision.
"Talk as you will of woman's deep capacity for loving, of the strength of her affectional nature. I do not deny it; but will the mere possession of any human love, fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being?"
Both Laura and Janette make decisions which ultimately seals their own fates, respectively. The bigger discussion is whether or not each of the decisions made were in each woman’s best interest? Or, did they make the decision based upon what was acceptable in society at the time. It could also be asked if the basis for each decision were relative to fear of the unknown? (Five more discussion questions are included with this story) As both love and death are romanticized in sultry lyrical lamentation, the question, “Will any human love fully satisfy all the demands of her whole being?” painfully unfolds in a series of unfortunate events and sobering revelations. Subsequently, unwavering faithfulness to the ideal of being a traditional woman poses its own consequences, though they differ from those women who dared to charter the more nonconventional paths toward modernism. Laura and Janette seem to be firm in their resolution on each path they would sojourn; however, neither woman was adequately prepared to comprehend the anguish that laid on the other side of each decision.
14 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 4, 2017
3 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
90 books83 followersBorn to free parents in Baltimore, Maryland. After her mother died when she was three years old in 1828, Watkins was orphaned. She was raised by her aunt and uncle. She was educated at the Academy for Negro Youth, a school run by her uncle Rev. William Watkins, who was a civil rights activist. He was a major influence on her life and work. At fourteen, she found work as a seamstress.
Frances Watkins had her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, published in 1845 (it has been lost). Her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, published in 1854, was extremely popular. Over the next few years, it was reprinted in 20 editions. Many African American women's service clubs named themselves in her honor, and across the nation, in cities such as St. Louis, St. Paul, and Pittsburgh, F. E. W. Harper Leagues and Frances E. Harper Women's Christian Temperance Unions thrived well into the twentieth century.
In 1850, Watkins moved to Ohio, where she worked as the first woman teacher at Union Seminary, established by the Ohio Conference of the AME Church. (Union closed in 1863 when the AME Church diverted its funds to purchase Wilberforce University.) The school in Wilberforce was run by the Rev. John Brown (not the same as the abolitionist). In 1853, Watkins joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and became a traveling lecturer for the group. In 1854, Watkins delivered her first anti-slavery speech on “Education and the Elevation of Colored Race”. The success of this speech resulted a two-year lecture tour in Maine for the Anti-Slavery Society. She traveled, lecturing throughout the East and Midwest from 1856 to 1860. In 1859, her story “The Two Offers” was published in the Anglo-African Magazine, a great accomplishment as it became the first short story to ever be published by an African American.
In 1860, she married Fenton Harper, a widower with three children. They had a daughter together in 1862. For a time Frances withdrew from the lecture circuit. However, after her husband Fenton died in 1864, Watkins returned to her travels and lecturing.
Frances Harper was a strong supporter of prohibition and woman's suffrage. She was also active in the Unitarian Church, which supported abolition. She often would read her poetry at the public meetings, including the extremely popular Bury Me in a Free Land. She was connected with national leaders in suffrage, and in 1866 gave a moving speech before the National Women's Rights Convention, demanding equal rights for all, including black women. Watkins was very involved in black organizations. From 1883 to 1890, she helped organize activities for the National Woman’s Christian temperance Union.
She also continued with her writing and continued to publish poetry. In 1892 she published Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted. One of the first novels by an African-American woman, it sold well and was reviewed widely.
Harper continued with her political activism. She helped organize the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was later elected vice president in 1897.
Frances Watkins had her first volume of verse, Forest Leaves, published in 1845 (it has been lost). Her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, published in 1854, was extremely popular. Over the next few years, it was reprinted in 20 editions. Many African American women's service clubs named themselves in her honor, and across the nation, in cities such as St. Louis, St. Paul, and Pittsburgh, F. E. W. Harper Leagues and Frances E. Harper Women's Christian Temperance Unions thrived well into the twentieth century.
In 1850, Watkins moved to Ohio, where she worked as the first woman teacher at Union Seminary, established by the Ohio Conference of the AME Church. (Union closed in 1863 when the AME Church diverted its funds to purchase Wilberforce University.) The school in Wilberforce was run by the Rev. John Brown (not the same as the abolitionist). In 1853, Watkins joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and became a traveling lecturer for the group. In 1854, Watkins delivered her first anti-slavery speech on “Education and the Elevation of Colored Race”. The success of this speech resulted a two-year lecture tour in Maine for the Anti-Slavery Society. She traveled, lecturing throughout the East and Midwest from 1856 to 1860. In 1859, her story “The Two Offers” was published in the Anglo-African Magazine, a great accomplishment as it became the first short story to ever be published by an African American.
In 1860, she married Fenton Harper, a widower with three children. They had a daughter together in 1862. For a time Frances withdrew from the lecture circuit. However, after her husband Fenton died in 1864, Watkins returned to her travels and lecturing.
Frances Harper was a strong supporter of prohibition and woman's suffrage. She was also active in the Unitarian Church, which supported abolition. She often would read her poetry at the public meetings, including the extremely popular Bury Me in a Free Land. She was connected with national leaders in suffrage, and in 1866 gave a moving speech before the National Women's Rights Convention, demanding equal rights for all, including black women. Watkins was very involved in black organizations. From 1883 to 1890, she helped organize activities for the National Woman’s Christian temperance Union.
She also continued with her writing and continued to publish poetry. In 1892 she published Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted. One of the first novels by an African-American woman, it sold well and was reviewed widely.
Harper continued with her political activism. She helped organize the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was later elected vice president in 1897.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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December 2, 2020Note to myself (and others who are interested in reading Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 😊):
On following interesting site there are links to several of her texts:
https://dickens.ucsc.edu/programs/vir...
On following interesting site there are links to several of her texts:
https://dickens.ucsc.edu/programs/vir...
February 17, 2019
What an absolutely breathtaking piece of literature. I've read this short story a few times before, and every time I read it I feel the same emotions swelling up again and again. I love this story, even if it does succumb to cliches, because it is written so powerfully and poetically.
February 26, 2024
A very touching read about how neglect can really break a person. I found the writing to be very beautiful if a bit dense at times, but very moving nonetheless. Seeing the development of Laura was so sad but felt so real at the same time, even today.
April 14, 2018
This was a great read. I love the quality of the language and they way Frances Ellen Watkins tells this story of two women's lives. A good quick read that will have you engaged from the first paragraph.
March 20, 2022
the emotions wow
October 26, 2022
Loved the pun in Janette's name. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, so I couldn't miss the similarity not only between their names, but in personality.
May 7, 2023
the quotes in here go crazy. this was also the only book that has ever made me cry in the computer room in my college’s library.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews