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Essay / Review of Judy Brady's article, I Want a Wife
In her essay “I Want a Wife,” Judy Brady explores society's expectations regarding the role of women in a marital home in the early 1970s Using rhetoric, she strategically places a rather powerful new point of view in the minds of her readers in just under two pages. The entire essay is one long satire, reading like a list and identifying example after painfully specific example of society's collective disregard for the worth of women. Although the most obvious goal of his essay is to expose the culture's flawed perspective on gender roles, this is certainly not the only goal of his writing. Brady also decides to win over the hearts of her male audience, ultimately convincing them to re-evaluate their lustful attitudes towards women, and to educate and antagonize the emotions of her female audience, whom she intends to influence profoundly. Throughout his essay, Brady employs numerous rhetorical strategies to achieve these goals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Very clearly, Brady lets her audience know up front which side of the argument she identifies with, saying, “I belong to this classification. of people known as wives,” as his opening statement. This ensures that she has already caught the attention of her readers. She uses this method to attract the clients she wants without hesitation. She goes on to say: “And it’s not by chance that I’m a mother. » This second remark is the first time the reader sees Brady pointing out a stereotypical standard that women of that era were not so kindly asked to uphold. This is Brady's cynical way of alluding to the rebellious belief that a man has the right to have children with or without his wife's consent, simply because she is his wife. This bold statement effectively conveys the first of many compelling messages Brady expresses to both sides of his audience. Although her thesis already exceeds a multitude of feminist writers of her time in terms of simple sentences, she does not stop there. She continues: “Not long ago, a friend of mine appeared on the scene, fresh from a recent divorce. He had a child, who is of course with his ex-wife. This bold comment only further awakens the dramatic side of the reader. She uses this expression to imply that after a divorce, the woman must generally fend for herself to provide for the children that the couple may have conceived together. She emphasizes that the woman is expected to make ends meet on her own while the man is free to “naively look for another wife.” His sarcastic tone effectively illustrates his belief in an underlying societal problem, without blatantly stating it. Brady then comments, "I thought of him while I was ironing one night." This again alludes to one of the countless norms imposed on housewives that she wanted to repeal. She adds this detail because it determines how she presents herself as a writer. She pictures herself cleaning. This reinforces the entity that she herself is held to the very axiom of her writing. She reveals to the reader that she is like them. That makes it personal. This means that his article no longer addresses only the public, but also refers to the writer. From there, she goes on to describe in a rather acerbic manner all the reasons she wants a wife. She does this in great detail, referring to each of the specialized expectations placed on women..