Wife vs. Daughter in Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros and Why I Want a Wife by Judy Brady

551 Words2 Pages

What is a Wife? What is a Daughter? Are they the same, or are they different? A wife supports a husband, but a daughter could also have the same position could she not? A daughter could marry and become a wife, and still be a daughter. Than again, a wife could be an only child, and a wife could have no father. A wife compares to a daughter in many ways, and differs in many different ways as well. All in all, it?s quite possible that all women, go through at least one of these titles, at one point in there lives.

In the short story ?Why I want a wife? by Judy Brady, she goes into detail what being a wife is like. The tedious details of day to day activities, the strain and hard work of being a ?good wife?, and the unappreciated service a wife must perform to be accepted by her husband. This story made me feel like, the author

felt a little surprised of what she actually does from day to day being a wife, perhaps a little bit bitter toward those who do not notice her action.

That brings me to another short story, ?Only Daughter? by Sandra Cisneros. This story is of a Dau...

Show More
Related

  • Comparison Of Joe Sparks And Vergil Tea Cakes

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    All over the world, marriage is one of the main things that define a woman’s life. In fact, for women, marriage goes a long way to determine much in their lives, including happiness, overall quality of life, whether or not they are able to set and achieve their life goals. Some women go into marriages that allow them to follow the paths they have chosen and achieve their goals while for other women, marriage could mean the end of their life goals. For Janie, the lead character in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, who was married twice, first to Joe sparks, and to Vergil Tea Cake, her two marriages to these men greatly affected her happiness, quality of life and the pursuit of her life goals in various ways, based on the personality of each of the men. Although both men were very different from each other, they were also similar in some ways.

    Read More

  • Promises I Can Keep: Book Review

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...promising dreams, relationships often fall apart under strain from unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, imprisonment, conflict and betrayal. Finally, we get to the heart of what marriage means to these mothers and why they say that successfully raising children is the most important job they will ever have. Almost all of the women said things like “It’s only because my children that I am where I am today.”

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationships in works by Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    In their articles, Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan establish a profound ethos by utilizing examples of the effects their mother-daughter/mother-son relationships have had on their language and writing. Lee’s "Mute in an English-Only World" illustrates his maturity as a writer due to his mother’s influence on growth in respect. Tan, in "Mother Tongue," explains how her mother changed her writing by first changing her conception of language. In any situation, the ethos a writer brings to an argument is crucial to the success in connecting with the audience; naturally a writer wants to present himself/herself as reliable and credible (Lunsford 308). Lee and Tan, both of stereotypical immigrant background, use their memories of deceased mothers to build credibility in their respective articles.

    Read More

  • The Women’s Rights Movement

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Judy Brady’s, “I Want A Wife” (1971) sarcasm or a humorous tone is expressed on the topic of what makes a wife. Brady repetitively states, “I want a wife” and begins to list what makes “a wife.” Brady defines a wife as someone who takes care of the children, cleans and cooks, gives up her ti...

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Joe Sparks And Vergile Tea Cakes

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    All over the world, marriage is one of the main things that define a woman’s life. In fact, for women, marriage goes a long way to determine much in their lives including happiness, overall quality of life whether or not they are able to set and achieve their life goals. Some women go into marriages that allow them to follow the paths they have chosen and achieve their goals while for other women, marriage could mean the end of their life goals. For Janie, the lead character in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, who was married twice first to Joe sparks, and to Vergile Tea Cake, her two marriages to these men greatly affected her happiness, quality of life and pursuit of her life goals in various ways, based on the personality of each of the men. Although both men were very different from each other, they were also similar in some ways.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of To A Daughter Leaving Home By Linda Pastan

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show the ambivalence between the parents and the children.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationship in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    For many of us growing up, our mothers have been a part of who we are. They have been there when our world was falling apart, when we fell ill to the flu, and most importantly, the one to love us when we needed it the most. In “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it begins with a brief introduction to one mother’s interpretation of the American Dream. Losing her family in China, she now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. However, the young girl, Ni Kan, mimics her mother’s dreams and ultimately rebels against them.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles And Marriage In The Chrysanthemums And The Story Of An Hour

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender roles and marriage the two short stories that I decided to compare and contrast is “Story of An Hour” by: Kate Chopin; and “The chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck. In “The Story of An Hour” the author talks about a woman who is married and finds out that her husband has been killed in a train accident. Her first reaction is devastation she starts crying historically then she goes into her room and thinks about her new found freedom. She looks out the window seeing all this new life and thinks about how hers is going to be, as this new independent woman she is now free. This feeling of freedom of marriage excites her but then she finds out that he still alive and all of her new found freedom is taken away from here this gives her a heart attack. In the story of “The Chrysanthemums” there is a married couple. Their marriage was a typical marriage for back in the day when women were expected to take care of the home and garden and men were expected to work all day to be the bread winner for the family. Elisa Allen, henry wife loves to work in the garden on her chrysanthemums she is a very strong and beautiful women. She wants to do more on the business side of the relationship but she knows that this is not for a women. Both of these stories are very similar in the ways that women were treated in the past. They were treated like they were not good enough to do a man’s job and they had less rights then men did in the past. The two women in the short stories I read have similar experiences of being oppressed by men but the overall outcome was different for both women. The reason why I thought this was because the authors of the stories differ in gender this plays a huge role on how the two main women characters stories ended.

    Read More

  • Love, Death, and Divorce

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau famously said that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” When we compare and contrast these two stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby,” by Kate Chapin, we learn that this sentiment may be especially true for women. Kate Chapin uses “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” to bravely explore the social inequalities of women in terms of marriage and divorce. The combination of these two stories point out that despite the presence of love, not all marriages are happy and not all divorces are sad. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree has married for love and wishes to stay married and through no fault of her own, she is forced to divorce. In contrast “The Story of an Hour” is about Louise, who has married out of social obligation and wishes to divorce, but is forced to stay married. Both women are forced to follow paths not of their own choosing and submit to the rules set down by a male dominated society. In spite of society’s tendency to romanticize marriage, many women find marriage to be a limiting burden; for others, marriage may be the only chance at life.

    Read More

  • Absurd Expectations

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since most men have mothers to cater to their every need up until the time they move out, they have outrageous expectations of how a wife should act and what duties she should perform. Judy Brady, who is a wife and mother, wrote the essay "I Want a Wife" to explain what men want in a wife. She discusses the different skills a wife needs to possess for a man to consider her a good wife. Brady’s use of repetition, constant sarcasm, and defensive word choice throughout her essay makes it successful by relating to women’s frustrations of being a wife.

    Read More

  • Women’s Rights and Rhetoric Essay

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    In I Want a Wife, Brady highlights the oppressive nature that women must endure. She describes a stereotypical housewife, and lists the chores and tasks that are expected of her one after another. Brady structures the piece for maximum effect. The fast paced, repetitive structure of her piece adds to her point that the burden of a wife is never ending. She also introduces the piece by examining the actions of a male friend, who seems callous, for he is trying to find a wife right after his divorce‒ as if women are objects to be used and then...

    Read More

  • Sociology Of Family In The Family

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marriage was once for the sole purpose of procreation and financially intensives. Living up to the roles that society had placed on married couples, more so women, is no longer the goal in marriage. Being emotional satisfied, having a fulfilled sex life and earning money is more important in marriage (Cherlin, 2013). Couples no longer feel the obligation to put the needs of their partner in front of their own needs. In the 1960’s and later it was the woman’s job to ensure that the house was clean, the children were bathed and dinner was prepared before the husband came home work. However, once more and more women began to enter the workplace and gain more independence, a desire for self-development and shared roles in the household lead way the individualistic marriage that is present in today’s society (Cherlin,

    Read More

  • Women And Mrs. Angelou's Caged Bird By Maya Angelou

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    strong bond to their families. Mrs Brady talks about how having a wife makes life much easier. “I Want a Wife”, argues utterly that mothers are underappreciated for what they do more than what their counterparts do. Are women being treated unequal to men, from pay to jobs.Mrs Brady purpose is to get women to take action and to get men to treat women equally.Men do not appreciate their wives and married women, who need to realize what is experience to them.However, she also writes to men and women who are not married in order to prevent men and women from living like a conservative couple.

    Read More

  • Joy Daughter Relationship Essay

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    Development in relationships provokes the teaching of valuable life lessons. Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, delineates the progressive development in the mother daughter relationships and the lack offs impact on an individual. The novel illustrates the tensions between mother and daughter through a lack of communication- illuminating that communication reaches prosperity only when understanding has been established. Tan furthermore emphasises, the motherly supremacy as a contribution to a daughter’s tireless urge to instil acceptance.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story “I Want a Wife”, is a narrative essay signifying the demand placed on females during the 1970's. The author goes on to demonstrate the expectations that our male counterparts placed on women during that era. The way in which the author brought this issue to the surface was enthralling. As described by the author, a wife was to be seen and not heard, she is to cater to every impulse her husband has.Written out in sequence, a woman's duties were overwhelming and needed to be brought to the light. Men were treated like royalty by their wives, while showing little appreciation. A wife was expected to take care of the family while nothing was required of the husband. In addition, a wife was expected to look her best while tackling all of life's problems. The essay does not provide a notable amount of detail, yet the s...

    Read More

More about Wife vs. Daughter in Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros and Why I Want a Wife by Judy Brady

Open Document