English 1102
I want a wife When reading the story, I want a wife by Judy Brady, I really got me thinking. I started thinking about what she must have felt when writing this and the time period this was written in. There was so much discrimination against woman back in that time; it was easy to see why she would be upset. Back then women were expected to be a take care of the children take care of her husband, hold down a job and submit to her husbands every command without complaining. I must say that me being a young woman, my initial reaction was I completely agree with everything Judy Brady is saying. I reread this story to make sure, I was being logical and I have to say nothing my opinion is the same. Judy Brandy gave a very good argument on how wives were treated as slaves was and was completely justified in the way she felt. Judy Brady was born in San Francisco and earned a B.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1962. She became later became a free-lance writer during and since then has written many articles on such issues as abortion, education, and the labor and women 's movements. (hill) But her most famous work was the essay “I want a wife”. At the time “I want a wife” was written in 1971 at the time Judy Brady was a 34 year old mother and wife, and also a feminist. The idea for writing this story came from she was at a feminist consciousness-raising session. She was complaining about the issue when someone said, “Why don’t you write about it?” her response to this was the short essay “I want a wife” (Napikoski). “I want a wife”, quickly became a success because as a wife Judy Brady could relate to what many women felt. In the beginning, Judy begins her essay by introducing and categorizing herself as a wife. She goes on to tell us that a newly divorced friend of hers is looking for a wife. Then it suddenly dawned on her that she would also like a wife. Judy Brady starts her argument ingeniously. She explains she wants a wife so she can go back to school be economically independent. She wants a wife to take care of the children, to make sure the children cleaned, fed and all their special needs are taking care of. She also wants a wife to take care of her physical needs, someone who will clean her house and cook for the family and guest if she decides to bring some to dinner. She wants a wife that will not bother her with rambling complaints about wife duties. She wants the option of leaving her wife if she so happens to find a more suitable wife than she already has. She would like the option of having a clean slate again and leaving her old life behind, including the children, with her old wife and starting fresh with her new wife. She ends her essay with the statement “My god who wouldn’t want a wife”. Her purpose for writing this essay is not only to humor reader but to present the argument that woman are not treated as equals. [ (Brady) ]
This essay was written as a satire, so she uses sarcasm and humor when developing her argument of the role of an uncomplicated wife. There was irony pretty much in everything she is saying. What she really means is who wouldn’t want their own legal personal slave, because in her eyes that’s what a wife is. She is expected to take care of her children every need her husband and lastly herself without complaining. She feels as though even though she dedicates her life to her husband’s needs if he wanted to he could leave and never look back. Whereas, on the other hand, she would be stuck with the responsibility of taking care of their children, she would never be able to start over with a clean slate. When writing this essay the author uses mostly logos. Throughout the story Judy Brady arguments are fairly straight forward. She argues how unequal men and woman are with responsibility involving house work and taking care of the children.
The purpose of this essay was to bring consciousness to how unethical wives were treated. Judy Brady is trying to her point of view across that wives are expected to do too much. She although she used sarcasm, she was fairly straight getting her point across. This essay is presented in a very effective way and was written very well done. The way Judy Brady got her point across by explaining all the duties a wife was very cleaver. She used her self-experiences to express all expectation she must fulfill in order to be a good wife, and many wives could relate. That is what makes this essay great.
Works Cited
Brady, Judy. I want a wife. n.d. hill, Mcgraw. 75 Thematic Readings. 2003. <http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072469315/student_view0/judy_brady/_nbsp_.html>.
Napikoski, Linda. Women 's history. 2011. 06 10 2011 <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feministtexts/a/i_want_a_wife.htm>.
Cited: Brady, Judy. I want a wife. n.d. hill, Mcgraw. 75 Thematic Readings. 2003. <http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072469315/student_view0/judy_brady/_nbsp_.html>. Napikoski, Linda. Women 's history. 2011. 06 10 2011 <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feministtexts/a/i_want_a_wife.htm>.
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