I
Want a Wife Response
I thought this was funny.
I
Want a Wife is a social
commentary of the feminist movement and the issues surrounding the movement in
the 1970s, and it also happens to be entertaining at the same time. This was
not implemented unnecessarily. In order to reach an audience who would
otherwise have deaf ears for an essay promoting the feminist movement, Brady
tries to relate to the audience using humor. She also makes excellent use of
logos, pathos, and ethos. She first establishes herself as a wife, therefore making
her a credible commentator of housewives of that time period. Brady states everything
a housewife does for her husband, indirectly explaining the housewife’s plight
and the husband’s superior position in the household. She also attempts to
evoke sympathy within the reader by listing all of what a wife does. Brady establishes
herself as a credible source, lists the numerous tasks a wife does for her
husband and family, and satirizes her entire essay by constantly mentioning her
supposed desire for a wife who would do everything for her. By doing so, she
stands the best chance at winning over her readers, who otherwise might not
even read a book or essay on a topic such as feminism.
It seems surprising now that a housewife
would do all of those things for her husband and not expect anything in return,
but forty years ago that was the norm for American society. It would be
shocking, even scandalous that someone would challenge the ingrained image of a
perfect family with a housewife, working husband and kids. The late 1960s and the
early 1970s were times of change, when traditional values were being
challenged. A topic as controversial as this essay would definitely evoke some
sympathy, but also much disapproval. To remedy this, Brady had to craft an
essay that could appeal to her readers without turning them off at the same
time. Making her readers laugh would be the best way to capture her reader’s
attention. She uses irony and satire to persuade her readers. She constantly
says that she wants a wife throughout the essay, though we as the readers know
that she doesn’t want a wife; she is simply using this as a ploy to explain to
the reader all of a housewife’s duties.
Brady’s argument was balanced on logos,
ethos, and pathos, and she did not use overly complex language. Since her
target audience was middle-class white women, Brady mentioned situations and topics
that someone of that class could relate to. However, her essay received a much
wider audience than her intended audience. They, on the other hand, would not
be as welcoming of this topic as the former. Overall, I think that Brady did a
very good job at drawing her readers in and communicating an idea that would
attract a lot of controversy. It is not easy to write something that would
appeal to people who hate your topic.
I think I also found some humor in I Want a Wife. I think this is because of the time difference between my time period and the time period this book was written in. Maybe it wasn’t as funny back then because all of those things actually happened. And wives were as oppressed as Brady was describing. Since I live in a different time period, I can see this essay differently. It isn’t as serious to me and is almost funny from how exaggerated it is. I still am not completely amused by it in respect for women who have had to deal with all of these “womanly” duties. I agree though that the way she went about writing the essay, saying that she wanted a wife to do stuff for her, was humorous and definitely caught the attention of her audience.
ReplyDeleteI think you are definitely right by saying she tries to grab the attention of her audience through logos and ethos. She knew that her audience was more likely to continue reading her essay after she established herself as credible to cover this subject because she is a wife herself. And then she continued to draw sympathy out of the reader for women who have suffered through such an unhappy and unfulfilling life of chores. She is a smart author who uses her literature tools to her advantage.
I think what you mean by saying this essay evokes sympathy and humor is that this essay appeals to different people in different ways. I think to men, they probably found it funny that she wanted a wife, but agreed that women should do all these things. Men might have even been angered by it because a woman shouldn’t have the audacity to say such things and publish them for all to see. Women probably had a more emotional response. They probably became sad that their life had to be like this, unless some women actually enjoyed a life of almost servitude to the husband. Along with sadness, this essay probably made women angry and want to stand up for their selves. I have no doubts that this essay served as a motivator for the advocated of the women’s rights movement.
I totally agree with you. This article is funny yet powerful. Brady's argument is very balanced on logos, ethos and pathos and she delivers her argument in a non-threatening way.
ReplyDeleteAt the time when Brady published her article, such argument would be judged heavily by the public, and probably in a bad way. People at that time expected woman to be following the "domestic cult"——be in charge of house work and educate next generation. Most importantly, such concept was deeply rooted in people's mind. If one dared challenging such a system, one would probably face dire criticism. However, Brady is really really smart about the way she sent the message. She didn't just barrage on the status quo, instead, she brought up the reasons why wife is an "item" that everyone wants. Then through ingenious logical analogy, she sent her message. If she sent her message directly, people would not listen.
And as you pointed out, her article uses skillful logic——wife could do so many things, so everyone wants a wife, and wife wants a wife too. Therefore there is something wrong about definition wife. Wife is not an item, and she has desire and lives too so she deserves to have a wife——but she obviously can't, so the definition of wife is fallacious. So all the non-wives should respect wives and give them freedom.
Brady also used ethos and pathos in the argument——she established the image that she is also a wife so she knows the pain of wives(to convince women who read the article that she represents them). Also throughout the article she didn't mention about the mistakes of man(to attract men readership).
To conclude, I think your response did a great job analyzing the functions and techniques in Brady's argument. The only suggestion I could give is that if you could add a section talking about the organization of the argument, your response could be more powerful.