In the essay, “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady, she uses hyperbole and a sarcastic writing style to emphasize the high expectations that men have for a wife. The writer expresses what she wants in a wife and then lists the many responsibilities within the paper. Although women have recently made great strides toward achieving professional and social equality, Brady uses hyperbole and parody to show how many men 's selfish and brutally unrealistic expectations of women 's roles still persist today. During the first time reading this article the reader may find the paper humorous, insulting or wonder who and why the writer would even expect this from a wife. The writer doesn’t insist that this is how a wife is supposed to act. Brady is using …show more content…
(Brady 1993)," which brings about the illusion that not all the expectations within a wife can be achieved. The author describes wants in a wife from taking care of the children, doing chores, scheduling events, making dinner, and to, providing sexual favors. Although some of the quoted wants are expected of a wife to preform, and for her to be willing to preform, it is a fanciful idea to believe one woman alone could fulfill every action in question. Quotes from Brady of the obvious expected activities for a wife are; "I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean (Brady 1993)." Then, there are the arrogant expected activities such as, "I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife 's duties (Brady 1993)," "I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it (Brady 1993)," and "I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy (Brady 1993)." These three previous quotes show the man expects everything and doesn 't care about or consider the thoughts or feelings of the wife. This thought lead to a response by Adam Ayd titled, "Why I Want a Real …show more content…
Adam ends his paper with the final paragraph stating, "What I 've just described to you are not just my expectations of my perfect wife, but also of me. I can only expect something from someone if they can expect it from me. Basically, I want a wife who is just like me. (Ayd 1995)" Adam also adds and improves quotes of his own like, "I want a wife who will come and talk to me about her problems and not keep them away from me (Ayd 1995)," "I want a wife who will be a part of my social life (Ayd 1995)," and "I want a wife who likes the same things I do. I want a wife who is my best friend (Ayd 1995)." While adding and editing wants in a wife, Adam begins to create a new idea of a perfect wife that is more realistic. A best friend and expecting something you would only expect from
Brady utilizes incongruity with a specific end goal to demonstrate society's view on wives: individuals who resemble robots, hirelings, and cleaning specialists. She specifies that she is both a wife and a mother, yet "it all of a suddenly occurred" to her that she " would like to have a wife " (para. 1). How can it bode well that a wife would need a wife? Brady contends that she would like a wife because she completes all the tasks. Posting the unlimited errands and wants Brady needs her wife to finish, the wife is never again observed as a dearest life partner. Relatively, a person that is expected to finish errands and responsibilities for the advantage
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 service a wife must perform to be accepted by her husband. This story made me feel like, the author
Both Brady and Barry are targeting different audiences through their essays. Brady is ironically sympathizing with wives everywhere who want the privileges and abilities that history and culture have given to their husbands. Many times throughout her essay she mentions wanting a wife. One time she said, " I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life"(Brady 413). She further explained by saying "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"(Brady 413). Attempting to reach the more sensitive female audience, she exclaimed, "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 I am satisfied"(Brady 413). She also mentions "[wanting] a wife who will not demand sexual attention when [she is] not in the mood for it"(Brady 413). Barry is speaking to the male audience, by responding snidely to negative stereotypes, and proving that we are lucky to have men. It is a commonly known fact that women think men cannot find anything in the kitchen. Many women believe, "that a man can open a refrigerator containing 463 pounds of assorted meats, poultry, cold cuts, co...
Judy Brady is a well know feminist and activist during the nineties. She is also a well know writer and get publicity for her most influence essay over females and their roles as wife in “Why I want a wife”. She wrote this essay to give strength to her fellow activist in showing feminism. She also tried to show the world, how females are considered. Even though Judy’s essay talks about a long list of duties of women as a wife, her way of organizing it through ethos, pathos and logos to develop her argument , use of rhetorical devices such as irony, anaphora and her simple way of explaining main ideas to her readers, made it a successful essay.
Stepping into a new life with someone is difficult enough, but if you step into the marriage with unrealistic expectations (which vary among couples) you’ve set yourself up for great conflicts. In “The Myth of Co-Parenting” and “My Problem with her Anger,” both Edelman and Bartels are at a disadvantage due to the expectations they’ve created. Everything in their marriages is going in a different direction, and nothing is parring up with their original expectations. They’ve seen marriages they admire, and also marriages on the other side of the spectrum. To better phrase this, both authors allow expectations to control their mindset in their marriages, but Edelman’s expectations
According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2001, 89% of Americans say that married men/women having an affair was morally unacceptable. However, when we hear about men having an affair, we are quick to jump to conclusions, and we assume their partner was not doing something right. About a scandal in relation with a New York Governor some years ago, the Doctor Laura Schlessinger expressed, “…When the wife does not focus in on the needs and the feelings, sexually, personally, to make him feel like a man, to make him feel like a success, to make him feel like her hero, he’s very susceptible to the charm of some other woman making him feel what he needs.” This statement has such a negative impact in women’s life; we are instilling a sense of guilt and low self esteem on them. Because these are the sentiments that we have been inculcated, we respond to the reading of Ethan Frome in a similar way; we disregard Ethan’s flaws and blame Zeena for all their
In today’s society, women tend to feel pressured into finding a spouse before the opportunity to fall in love passes by. Unfortunately, love is not the only reason for two people to get married. Support and security provide a person with the comfort of not being alone for the rest of their lives, however, many fear time may run out if they do not act fact. In Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman, Marian McAlpin displays struggles in her decision to commit to her fiancé; Peter. Although she admires him, something just isn’t quite right. In the Over...
Take for occurrences, section 9, "men are somewhat Pollyannaish about the condition of their marriage, while their spouses are sensitive to the inconvenience." This is not generally so for one side or the other. It is increasingly that couples need to take in the dialect of the other individual and recollect what it took to get the individual
In Judy Brady’s, “I Want A Wife” (1971) sarcasm or a humorous tone is expressed on the topic of what makes a wife. Brady repetitively states, “I want a wife” and begins to list what makes “a wife.” Brady defines a wife as someone who takes care of the children, cleans and cooks, gives up her ti...
it provided to men, one must honestly ask themselves "who wouldn't want a wife?" (Brady-Syfer 803).
From the daily actions of the husband in daily lives, we can see that his blindness to love hampers his definition of love into simple consideration. And such superficial love directly accumulates dissatisfaction and it is unleashed by the love test. His husband’s attention to do the housework appears when he “overheard a friend of his wife 's congratulate her on having such a considerate husband.” (1, Tobias
Three articles were chosen based on love and marriage and analyzed to the book. In one of the articles “What Married Woman Want” by Stan Guthrie interviews a sociologist Brad Wilcox on his study of married women. The article reads that women are the happiest in their marriage when they receive emotional engagement from their husband. In Chapman’s book he states that women and men have a primary love language that fulfills their love tank. The five love languages Chapman discloses are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Physical Touch, Receiving Gifts, and Quality Time. Guthrie however argues that as long as women are provided with love, affectionate, and empathy she is the happiest. I found it interesting to read that she had stated that women prefer their husband’s emotional engagement rather than acts of service “We have to recognize that for the average American marriage, it matters a lot more whether the husband is emotionally in tune with his wife than whether he's doing, say, half the dishes or half the laundry” (Stan Guthrie, What Ma...
The woman was to remember that her husband just spent a long, hard day at work. If he wasn't present, she would have no source of income and therefore would be at a state of financial ruin. Therefore, she was to avoid bothering him with problems or complaints. Her duty was to listen to him ("The Good Wife" 2). She was to guarantee that the evening would be peaceful, relaxing, and catered towards him. The main goal for the woman was to make the house a place of serenity and order where her husband could renew himself in body and in spirit.
In the reading’s of “Why I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady, (Essay #6) the author gives details on the reasons she would love to have a wife by her side. She gives explicit encounters on the labor detail job of a woman, from cooking, to cleaning, to ironing, to sexual interactions. Now, I do believe that as a wife, there are specifics that are wanted in a marriage, but nothing stated as a demand.
“Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is look- ing for another wife (Brady),” which led Judy to reveal the treatment and roles of women defined by men. The male friend of Brady is looking for a wife despite the child that he had is with his ex-wife. This proves that not only children are dependent on women, but men are too because of their selfish reasons to get food, a clean house, kids, and other physical needs from their wife. As Brady states that, “I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complains about a wife’s duties,” (Brady) it proves that men’s expectation are so high, because of their selfish character who tends to eliminate the concerns of a wife. As a