I Want A Wife Diction

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In the article, “I want a wife”, written by Judy Brady, Brady utilizes the literary devices parallelism and diction to ultimately portray her overarching argument, that women assume a designated role to adhere to their spouse’s everyday needs; physically, emotionally, and sexually. Through the use of diction and syntax within her piece, Brady is able to ironically emphasize the dependency a man has on his wife.

Within the article Brady structures her paper with a similar sentence format that repeats itself to overall emphasize that men see women as an object to serve all their needs and wants. With the use of parallelism, for instance, Brady begins majority, if not all, her sentences with the phrase, “I want a wife.” Following this phrase, Brady lists multiple acts of service and exaggerated day-to-day actions. Each paragraph contains multiple sentences beginning with this phrase, progressing with elaboration until the very last …show more content…

Further into the paper, Brady structures a paragraph that focuses on the tasks a woman must execute for her husband's’ social needs. “I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an ashtray, that they are passed the hors d'oeuvres, that they are offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it,” (Brady). This sentence maintains a very “formal” tone by the use of phrases and words like, “their wine glasses are replenished” and “their coffee is served to them as they like it.” This sentences more however portray the role of a servant or waiter; anything but a wife. The complexity of this phrase is soon throughout the entire article to ultimately accentuate the absurd tasks and fulfillments a husband expects his wife to take

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