I Want A Wife

In the short story ?Why I want a wife? by Judy Brady, she goes into detail what being a wife is like. The tedious details of day to day activities, the strain and hard work of being a ?good wife?, and the unappreciated

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.

Male dominance. The essay, "I Want a Wife" was written during the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States. It was a period when the society was dominated by men. In “I Want a Wife” Brady writes about the demand that a wife is made to meet while the husband does nothing. She claims that the duties of a wife are unfair to the duties of husband, leading to inequality between the roles of wife and husband. Brady feels bushed by differences in the household chore and the fact that the roles performed by wife go unobserved. For instance, Brady says, "I want a wife who will have the house clean, keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it.” (Glenn 13). The statement indicates how women were treated in the early 1960s. Women were supposed to get married and serve their husbands. Their work was to perform household

Throughout this article Brady uses ethos, logos, and pathos to illustrate her opinion that the wife does too much in a family. Brady connects with her audience by relating to what was expected of them back in the 1970’s. She states reasons to why she wants a wife and lists what she says a wife would do for her. Lastly, Brady connects emotionally to her audience by

In this satirical article, Brady expresses the difference between the roles of women and men in the 1970’s by stating men’s point of view on women and women’s roles in society. Throughout her article, Brady emphasizes the roles of women. For example, women could now “work and...takes care of the children when they are sick”. Comparing the 1880’s to the 1970’s, there has been a big improvement. Many women had jobs outside their home, but still were responsible for most housework and childcare while their husband’s only responsibility in a marriage was to go to work and earn money to support the family. Society’s expectations allowed women to work outside the home to support college education for husbands; however,women had to know how to balance their time between their children and their jobs, making sure that their husbands “cannot miss classes at school.” During the 1970’s, women were still oppressed in many ways and had to follow society's expectations in order to live up to the men’s view of women’s roles in society. Even though society’s expectations of women had improved since The Awakening, most of women’s roles had stayed the same. In the article, Brady specifies how once a husband is “through with school and has a job, [he expects the] wife to quit working and remain at home so that [she] can more fully and completely take

In “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady, the author argues that the roles of a wife are unfair and more demanding than a husband's, thereby they are treated as lesser than a man. Brady supports her claim by first, introducing herself as a wife, showing her empirical knowledge; secondly, cataloging the unreasonable expectations of a wife; finally ending the essay with an emotional and thought-provoking statement, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” Brady’s purpose is to expose the inequality between the roles of a husband and of a wife in order to show that women do not belong to men and to persuade women to take action and stand up for themselves. Based on when this essay was written and since it is about the impossible expectations of a wife, Brady was writing to feminists in the 1960s in order to rally them to create a change in the way people thought.

An average, women during the 1960’s were held accountable for many responsibilities. Women led very different lives during this time period. Punctual, responsible, and reliable were just some of the many standards that were expected from society. At the age of twenty women were expected to be married; soon after they would become pregnant. Raising a family and devoting their lives to be the best housewives possible. Legally women made no earnings or any income for that matter. Child care and in vigorous chores were a part of their daily routine. Women had no say financially. Women had one duty, and that was to be a housewife. Men had all the control in marriages; after all they were the bread winners. Women were stuck in a vicious cycle of controlling and power hungry men. Comparing women from the 10960’s to the women in today’s generation is quite astonishing. The women’s rights movement fought for women to be free. Women no longer need to be chained to such degrading and depressing circumstances. Raising a family and having a husband is a beautiful goal most women dream of. However, we should also have the right to decide when we want to marry and to whom we believe is the right candidate. “Why I Want a Wife” written by Judy Brady raises a powerful message on women in the 1960’s. Judy touches upon the idea that women had constantly been expected to be in confined and submissive relationships. Brady perfectly depicts the

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

Prior to describing what a man will expect from a wife, Judy Brady establishes her credibility within the first couple sentences of her essay. Brady states “I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother” (1). This quote is significant since Brady makes it clear in the beginning of her article that she has firsthand experience of being a wife and a mother. Her experience allows her to have a vast amount of knowledge on the

In "I Want a Wife" Brady is stereotypical of what she believes to be the roles of the husband and wife. Also Brady's essay is one sided, she never states a side that would argue her viewpoint. While Wilson shows two clearly stated sides of his argument.

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

Another disagreement I have with Brady is that she makes it seem as if the duties she is listing out wife duties, she does not support her statements at all which make it seem as if only she encountered these events such as when she says, “I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course studies...I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.”. This makes it seem as if most, even all husbands will go back to school and have their wives do their class work for them when it may have just for Brady.

She begins by stating, “My God who wouldn’t want a wife?” By stating this, she tries to portray a wife as a servant. Whatever the husband desires, the wife must deliver. Men take advantage of women and do not show their appreciation. In addition, Brady also comments, “I belong to the classification of people known as wives.”

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

Brady uses strong word choice to create an ironic and sarcastic tone. The text contains a personal story that references the narrator’s newly divorced male friend who is already looking for a new wife. The narrator responds to the situation by saying “It suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife.” The narrator mocks her male friend by saying that after witnessing and analyzing his current situation, she all of a sudden realizes the advantages of having a wife, which makes her want one as well. This produces an almost uneasy feeling within the reader. As the mood and tone of the essay suddenly shift to sarcastic, any ideas previously discussed become invalid and cannot be taken seriously. The text ends with the statement “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” By closing with this unanswered question, the reader is left to interpret the essay however they see best fit. The reader is left to contemplate whether or not to give in to society and continue to promote these impractical standards made for women, or stand up and work to make a change. The author, who is a women, freely mocks the