Analysis Of Judy Brady 's I Want A Wife

In an essay by Judy Brady titled “I Want a Wife”, Brady discusses the typical gender dynamics of her time period (the 1970s) and challenges them. She essentially says that women are treated like they are inferior to men and so she says that she wishes or wants someone to fulfill her duties for her just like she does for her husband. This essay shows the struggle to gain equality in this time period and also represents the thoughts that a woman in this time period might have. Not only is the meaning behind this essay significant, but the way in which Brady presents it is also significant and it amplifies and strengthens the argument. This is proven by textual evidence found in the essay itself.

In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife,” she examines why she would like to have a wife. Brady believes that a wife performs all house chores and the husband does nothing, but to expect the wife to do everything for him. Brady tries to persuade the reader to look at a husband viewpoint of what a wife should be. The essay was written during the early 1960’s, during the second wave of the feminist movement in America. Brady is pushed by certain reasons to write, “I Want a Wife” to show the humanist humor.

In this article Brady tries to connect to every type of wife by stating all of the possible things they may do in a day. In doing this she is using pathos, because she trying to connect with their emotions. A lot of the examples are the same as the one for logos, when she says “I want a wife to” or “I want a wife that will” (229-230). She does not think that every wife does everything she states, but by listing all of the examples she is appealing to the largest audience that she can. One specific example of her using pathos in a sarcastic tone is when she says that she wants the liberty to replace her wife and then goes on to say “Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life…” (230). It infuriates her audience when she says that, because it makes wives look more like tools than women, and since most of her audience are women it aggravates them even more. Brady uses her writing to make her audience think that wives do too much for their families without appreciation.

In “I want a wife,” Judy Brady’s use of irony to add judgment of what a men perspective of women is. The irony is used thought out the essay and how that the author was talking about wanting a wife throughout the essay while being a wife is kind of adding sarcasm, along with irony. The use of irony in this essay help send a

Brady also uses irony to develop an opinion towards the basic male perspective on gender roles: "I want a wife who will work and send me to school. The technique of using irony gets the message across of all males wanting to have a perfect wife. Brady wants to have "a wife who is a good nurturing attendant" to her children. " The most ironic element about Brady's essay is that she has allowed herself to become a wife, and is now regretting it, wanting a wife of her own. The strategy of using irony is that it shows that all males are looking for a wife as prefect as the one described by Brady. And "I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean. As well, Brady would also like to have a wife take care of her physical and social needs: "I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean," "who cooks the meals," "who will care for me when I am sick" and "a wife who

In Judy (Syfers) Brady’s article, “I Want a Wife”, she expresses her opinions in a satirical commentary that offers hypothetical criteria for an ideal wife, with an underlying message that deals with how people should be grateful for all of the deeds and chores that women do. Brady utilizes the strategy of

Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection. Although it is not as easily defined as some may make it. Every situation and the lessons we learn from those times, help to form what we believe love to be. For some it may be a physical attachment that others degrade to lust. For some it may be their reason for continuing on in life; but overall for most, love is what drives our lives. From childhood to adulthood we seek to find relationships that will fulfill our hearts and make our short time on Earth a little more enjoyable. However as well as any other activity we partake in, ways in which we perceive love and marriage have changed over time. Although there is slight variations, when most imagine the life of a married couple pure happiness is what is expected. As wonderful as that expectation may be, not every marriage fits into this ideal. The criteria of marriage used to be based off of what your partner can offer you. However as times have changed and gender roles have begun to disappear, marriage has now

In Anthony’s fourth paragraph, she discusses the idea that if women really are not citizens then they are subjected to living in an oligarchy. This raises an emotional response in the audience because women do not want to and should not have to be forced into being the lesser. Anthony’s second paragraph, in which she discussed the perception of mockery women were subjected to, also raises an emotional response in the audience. For example, “And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government- the ballot.” this statement evokes emotion because it allows the audience to see the humiliation women faced on a day to day basis (Anthony paragraph 2). The fact that women were not allowed to vote and were spoken to as if they enjoyed their liberty of law invokes embarrassment in the audience. This was effective because it allows the male members of the audience to feel the way the women did, in certain instances.

However, before they began to labor for activism, there was a time when they decided to devote their lives to feminism. Only one moment was needed to change Anthony’s career and the world. When at a temperance meeting, Anthony rose to speak but was told she was not allowed to, solely because she was a woman. Due to this injustice, she decided to begin petitioning for women’s rights, as well as temperance and abolition, which she also labored for. Similarly, Friedan had a direct cause to begin feminism, but unlike Anthony, it was a period of several years that inspired her. For a long time, Friedan was a housewife, with three children in the suburbs. These years, torturous for Friedan, showed her how women were expected to give up their careers in favor of cleaning house, and worse, were expected to be happy not bored, sewing and vacuuming all day. In fact, Friedan herself had been a journalist, but she was fired for asking for maternal leave- fired for being a woman. Likewise, Anthony was fired from her job as a teacher, in part because she complained about the fact that she made five times less than men in the same position- again, fired for her sex. Another similarity between the paths of these women was that neither was respected at first. Anthony was a laughingstock for wearing the “Bloomer outfit”, pants that rolled at the calves, and after Friedan wrote her bestselling book on

Daisy illustrates the typical women of high social standing; her life is moulded by society’s expectations. She is dependent and subservient to her husband. She is powerless in her marriage.

When Brady classifies herself as “a wife and mother” she is automatically labeled with the responsibilities that were enforced by societal beliefs of that era (Brady 229). Women were considered inferior to men and struggled to gain equality. Husband's required too much of their wives as to their physical needs; “I want a wife to keep my house clean.” Their social needs, “When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends.” In addition, their sexual needs, “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied.” (Brady 229-230). Women did all these things everyday to please their husbands, although they received no fringe benefit in return. The cultural values that were viewed at this time emphasized the discrimination and equality that Brady desperately wants her audience to

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

In Judy Brady’s article “I Want A Wife”, she uses repetition greatly in her essay to make her point, why wouldn’t anyone want a wife. Judy Brady was born in 1937 in San Francisco and got a B.A at the University of Iowa in 1962. Brady’s article first appeared in the feminist magazine Ms., which was in Arlington County, Virginia in 1972. The author’s main idea was to show the amount of work that a wife is expected to do. She does this by strategically listing out what she looks for in a wife. She constantly says, “I want a wife”, to signify that she wants someone to do these things for her as she has done for her husband. In today’s society, the wife is seen as the caretaker and doer of all businesses, while still catering to a

In her essay titled “Why I [Still] Want a Wife”, Judy Brady argues that wives are automatically assigned the role of primary caretaker and homemaker in a traditional marriage. Brady states that in her marriage, she is expected to earn an income while her husband pursues a higher education, she is expected to perform all parental duties exclusively, tend to all housework, her husband’s sexual needs and desires with no regard to her own, and be a hostess while keeping quiet and doing all the above pleasantly. In her style of writing, Brady appears to be hostile and her entire piece comes across as one sided and unfair. While I agree that marriage should be based around inherent equality, I disagree with the way Brady chooses to present her argument as she presents the conditions of her marriage as universally applicable. I do not consider her argument as effective as it could be if Brady chose to be less biased and contradictory in her presentation. If Brady wanted her argument to appear more persuasive, she should have refrained from telling the reader that she does not like being exploited while at the same time telling the reader that she wants to have someone to exploit. Brady presents the conditions of her loveless marriage that is lacking basic respect as universally applicable which is unjust. With her style of writing, Judy Brady leaves her essay open to disagreement. She could have prevented this simply by being less biased and generic with her references to what it

Judy Brady has strong beliefs in regards to societal standards, specifically the unrealistic pressures forced upon women. Within her essay “I Want a Wife”, Brady emphasizes the ridiculousness of the extremely high standards women are expected to follow without resistance. In order to get the point across clearly, she creates a sarcastic tone through diction and repetition.