Analysis Of I Want A Wife

“My god who wouldn’t want a wife” is the way Judy Brady ends her essay called “I Want A Wife” published in 1971 on Ms. Magazine, through a time well known as “The second feminist wave.” During the 1960’s and early 1970’s feminists were trying to strengthen their movements and therefore focused on “ every area of women’s experience—including family, sexuality, and work” (Burkett). Brady was born in San Francisco in 1937 and was inspired to write about situations she saw happening or experienced personally. She was well known as a feminist who wrote about unity within society, the role of women, and abortion. Before this essay was published in Ms. Magazine in 1971, Judy had the opportunity to read it out loud for the first time in 1970, during …show more content…
An example the author uses to support her message is, “I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene”(4). Brady transmits an angry feeling to women in the audience through irony. The use of the word “I” shows the self-entitlement behind the men. He believes that because he is taking his family on a vacation that the wife should remain doing her responsibilities without him putting any help in. A vacation is known to be a period of time when everyone in the family takes off from their regular routine or work in order to relax. However, the men here is only looking out for his own rest and expects the wife to continue satisfying his needs disregarding the fact that she won’t be leaving her daily routine tasks which dismisses her chance of resting. Therefore, the “change of scene” he implies will not be more then just the place he goes to. Brady’s use of irony is intended to show men how the family vacation they look forward to is not really a vacation for everyone other than himself. This can bring guilt to the men along with realization on how far their selfishness can go without making the women feel impotent and not …show more content…
She shows the desires of men when their marriage fails and how they “expect a fresh, new life” (8). Of which includes that the “wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them” with the hope to be “left free” (8) The position of having a child in between a separation can be very impacting to both the child and the mother. A child is usually affected emotionally and psychologically after their parents divorce and can be very hard to overcome that. Having that in mind, Judy’s way of putting out there this absurd thought of a men towards their child’s wife could cause two types of reactions for the audience. The men who couldn’t see themselves thinking like this about a separation with their children, will oppose to the fact that what Judy is stating is valid, while those who have that trained of thought could realize the harm they could cause to their child where eventually they are failing to the role of a father. Women on the other hand will feel relived that someone has finally questioned men for their ideas and actions they may or have embraced in