Question

Describe how authors use ellipsis in their writing. Then, choose an example from "The Two Offers" in which it is used. Explain how and why it was used. Use evidence from the text to support your response. Your response should be at least 150 words long.

Answer 1

In the short story "The Two Offers,", Frances Harper uses the narrative technique, ellipsis, to omit portions of the sequence of events in the story so that the reader fills in the narrative gap on their own. This type of narrative technique is part of Harper's method in persuading her audience of sympathetic readers to support women's rights and the abolition of slavery.

One example of when Harper uses ellipsis is at the end of the story when she introduces Janette's dedication to the political cause of abolition.

"In her the down-trodden slave found an earnest advocate; the flying fugitive remembered her kindness as he stepped cautiously through our Republic, to gain his freedom in a monarchial land, having broken the chains on which the rust of centuries had gathered."

The reader does not know until the final paragraph of the story that Janette is dedicated to abolitionism. This type of effect in leaving out the reasons for Janette's abolitionist sympathies causes the reader to connect Janette's abolitionism with the cause of women's rights and temperance that are presented throughout the short story. In particular, the reader can draw a connection between the "down-trodden slave" described in the final paragraph, with the effects of the "evil habits" on Laura Lagrange's husband.