Rhetorical Analysis Of I Want A Wife

Judy Brady, author/speaker of the humorous and sarcastic “I Want a Wife” speech, was a wife of two children and was all for the Women’s Strike for Equality on August 26, 1970, since wives had to do most if not all of the work in the house and even outside of the house. She even participated in it; this is where “I Want a Wife” came from. Sadly, she passed away on May 14, 2017, at age 80. Hoping to show the world how unfairly a wife gets treated in a relationship, she spoke/wrote a speech she made to every mature man and woman, hoping to get more women to rise and to show men how badly they treat their wives. Using strong diction such as repetition and alliteration with “I want a wife who will” to show how much she and many other wives have

Her constant use of repetition of “I want a wife who” rattles up the emotions of the audience, which may cause people to take action. Along with repetition, anaphora is used throughout the story with “I want a wife …” to point out the selfishness of men and how they picture a wife. It is also used to appeal to the emotions of the audience to persuade, inspire, motivate, and encourage them. Brady also uses irony to add a little humor and to amplify a judgment of what a man’s perspective is on gender roles in society. Irony is used throughout the speech. From the title, making the audience think she is a man, to the entire story with an example being “I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties.” By using irony it sends a message to all the male readers a description of having a faultless wife in their future

She joined the Women’s Strike for Equality on August 26, 1970, and on that day, Brady would make a speech that would impact the U.S. forever. Her speech, titled “I Want a Wife”, would later make its first appearance in a New York magazine, December 20-27, 1971, showing awareness of the horrible marriage situation in the 70’s even more. Brady made this speech to show how unfair and unjust a woman is treated in a relationship. She is forced to do everything in the house and do everything for everyone in the family just to stay in the marriage because she loves her husband and kids. The line “If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.” proves