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Analyzing Richard Brady's Essay 'I Want A Wife'

627 Words3 Pages

1. The opening paragraph sets a ridiculing tone towards the expectancies of wives. Classifying all wives together and using capitalization creates a satirical subspecies of women, “I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife.” Brady implies that the title of wife takes away a woman’s identity and places her in a generic role. 2. Repeating “I want a wife” shows how selfishly men view their wives. Brady never refers to “her” wife as a she, making wives seem like a possession or slave. She says, “…I want a wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife’s duties.” Not using pronouns like “she” and “her” to replace “wife” takes the humanity out of women and make …show more content…

The essay is a straightforward syllogism. Brady’s major premise is there are many unfair expectancies for wives, “…my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.” Her minor premise is that men treat their wives as their servants or slaves. Therefore, women do everything that is expected of them because they feel obligated to serve their husbands. 4. Brady builds up a woman’s duties as a wife from least to most. She goes from simple tasks to life changing decisions, “I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist appointments…I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control...” This progression goes from a husband’s reasonable demands to selfish desires. This progression appeals to pathos by making the reader feel angry about the treatment of women. The reader is more likely to see what Brady considers unfair and sexist and agree with her. 5. Brady uses verbal irony in describing her want for a wife because she doesn’t really want one, she is pointing out how selfish and sexist men are towards their wives. She says, “I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties” (Brady). While listing all the reasons she wants a wife, Brady is pointing out how much is expected of

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