Language, and thus the written word, is the connective tissue to our collective understanding of each other and our experiences. Conveying those particular experiences is a vulnerable practice, which requires a lot of emotional input from both the writer and the reader. Though each of the following authors is conveying different experiences, they are very real experiences all the same. In writing, that sincerity cannot be feigned. By evoking our emotions an author is capable of recreating their experience in a way that feels as though we are experiencing with them. In Melissa Nicolas’, A Name of My Own, the desire for independence is overtly emphasized through the author’s personal identity crisis, brought on by marriage and divorce. It was …show more content…
in Nicolas’ experience that her last name was a “symbol of what [she] valued, what [she] believed in, and ultimately, who [she] was.” (Nicolas 307) It is apparent through her writing that she approached such an experience with defiance and determination and she conveys that strength well in her writing. It seems, though, that Nicolas’ strength may have stemmed from her “sadness that [she] may lose an identity that [she] had as [she] stemmed into womanhood.” (Nicolas 308) These images of identity loss and rebirth provide a sense of a shared experience with the reader. Regardless of the catalyst, in this case a change of name, most have experienced identity issues. When required to do something deemed as “tradition” and “proper” and “simply what one does” – is defiance not the initial human response? In Judy Brady’s, I Want a Wife, a similar strength and defiance is presented as we explore Brady’s need for recognition and change in her patriarchal society.
We can feel through Brady’s frustrated sarcasm that, although she is “a wife and, and not altogether incidentally, [. . .] a mother” (Brady 280) she is representative of so much more than the roles in which she partakes. Her ability to reframe those traditions is remarkable due to her capability to evoke different emotional responses to different readers, dependent on their sex and background. As a man, you’re left potentially confused and irritated, and as a woman you’re left relieved by her defiance of the status quo. After recognizing the responsibilities traditionally put on a woman’s shoulders, Brady bears the question, “My god, who wouldn’t want a wife?” (Brady, 281). Her harshness in the matter feels like a personal attack on those who do not …show more content…
agree. In Nancy Mairs’, On Being Cripple, the need for understanding is palpable in the author’s attempt to describe herself in relation to Multiple Sclerosis, a degenerative disease she developed at the age of 28.
In the essay, Mairs presents a self-deprecating sense of humor about her harsh reality, but she also provides a dark emotional intensity throughout. Mairs exudes an isolationists mentality within her own frustration claiming, “I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely.” (Mairs 117). For most, degenerative disease or not, life presents opportunities to want to shake our fists at our makers, if only to appear stronger than we actually are. Yet, strength isn’t all Mairs has to show us, “Are there worse things than dying?” she states in a moment of realization and doubt, ” I think that there may be.” (Mairs 119). To the reader, this line instills a sense of anxiety, which is clearly something shared with the writer. By the end of it, you can see straight through the author’s humor as an emotional attachment towards her builds on itself. That attachment is purely a response based on her ability to show her self to her
readers. These essays, though referencing different topics, have much in common. Each work represents some type of hardship and how that experience has shaped the writer in an integral way. All use unique humor, likely to mask the amount of vulnerability that is present within their words. Yet, most importantly, each essay gives itself to the reader in a way that makes them undoubtedly feel empathy.
The fact that Mairs turns out to react counterintuitively to her multiple sclerosis is a curveball for the reader especially due to this question. As the reader has already pondered their response and rationalized it, the fact that Mairs goes against the status quo is a big element in her essay. Mairs’ technique was very effective and definitely superior to Soyster’s as she crafted it with more precision and had a structured setup for
Mairs recognizes herself as a “cripple” although many people would not want to be called a cripple since they would find it offensive, but Mairs believes it fit her perfectly. Mairs does not like the term “handicapped” or “disabled” because they are not flattering which is why she prefers the word “cripple”. Although she has a serious condition she does not take consideration of other individuals statements, “whatever you call me, I remain cripple. But i don’t care what you call me” (Mairs). This passage demonstrates how brave and strong she is; Mairs is also optimism because she learned to accept herself the way she is, she eventually became confident enough to joke about her serious condition.
Her essay is arranged in such a way that her audience can understand her life - the positives and the negatives. She allows her audience to see both sides of her life, both the harsh realities that she must suffer as well as her average day-to-day life. According to Nancy, multiple sclerosis “...has opened and enriched my life enormously. This sense that my fragility and need must be mirrored in others, that in search for and shaping a stable core in a life wrenched by change and loss, change and loss, I must recognize the same process, under individual conditions, in the lives around me. I do not deprecate such knowledge” (Mairs, 37). Mairs big claim is that she has accepted herself and her condition for what is it, yet she refuses to allow her condition to define her. Through her particular diction, tone, satire, and rhetorical elements, Mairs paints a picture of her life and shows how being a cripple has not prevent her from living her life. She is not embarrassed nor ashamed of what she is, and accepts her condition by making the most of it and wearing the title with
These euphemisms for her condition cause people to view her as something she isn't. Mairs believes that these words describe no one because "Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to accept death, war, sweat, or wrinkles." She continues her story of multiple sclerosis and the hardships she endured. Mairs goes into detail about how her life has changed since her diagnosis and how she has coped with the disease. She includes her need for help by the people around her but also delves into the fact that she can still teach and perform arduous tasks. She talks about her dependence on her family and how good her family treated her. She says she is scared. “...that people are kind to me only because I'm a cripple."(Mairs,8) Mairs hates that our society is obsessed with physical appearance and normality. She states that, "anyone who deviates from the norm better find some way to compensate." (Maris)This shows that she believes that American society has lofty expectations. She ends the essay by stating how she is getting used to having MS and how she isn't sorry anymore that she is a cripple. Mairs is thankful for what she has and the people who help her in her life. Overall, she is proud of herself and has recognized that life is what one makes it to be. Now from what you learned what do you
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
Brott, while having a message directed at eliminating discrimination of fathers in literature, is not sending any negative remarks about mothers. He is not blaming mothers in the situation while he uses examples of them in the literature. He uses such examples to illustrate the contrast between mothers and fathers in children’s literature. One example of which is his daughter’s favorite book, Mother Goose and the Sly Fox. Brott writes that while the Mother Goose is presented as a positive character, the father Fox is presented as negative character. In this example Brott is not accusing anyone. On the other hand, Brady is indirectly saying that men do not want to do anything, take responsibility for anything, and blames for inequality. Her list of expectations that men have of wives illustrates her bias towards men. Brady generalizes men as insensitive “pigs” and points them out as the problem in women’s inequality. While her bias may be hidden behind her use of repletion and sarcasm, it becomes obvious with her final remark: “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” While the authors’ bias may not be apparent, the differences in their tones may be more
“And I refuse to participate in the degeneration of the language to the extent that I deny that I have lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease; I refuse to pre- tend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish anyone person from another,” (138). Note that she refuses to identify as any other ordinary person. This leads us to believe that even though she may hate her disease, she accepts that it is a big part of her life, and should be treated as so. This in turn connects her with readers who also have been diagnosed with MS disease and furthermore makes them feel like they are not alone in their struggle. Mairs does not try to disguise the fact that she has MS, but instead embraces her differences.
Skilled authors can write pieces without experience by using similar emotions and merging them to create what one would expect to feel. The more believable the world that is conjured is to the audience the more they will be impacted by tragedies and trials in a story. A true
Brady recognizes how much work women who are wives truly have to do. Brady highlights the fact that, “I want a wife who will work and send me to school.” This illustrates that the wife’s needs will come last. Since her husband requests to go to work, the wife is expected to get a job to support the family as well as take care of everything else. Instead of the husband assisting at home, with the housework and taking care of the kids, since he is not working anymore, the wife is still expected to do it. Ever since women were just little girls, they have been taught that it is
Owens and Sawhill use pathos to evoke the feelings of their readers. This method establishes
Both Zadie Smith with “Some Notes on Attunement” and Vanessa Veselka with “Highway of Lost Girls” use their essay to tell a story. Yet in analyzing these pieces of writing, it is clear that there are more to them than just the stories themselves. These stories, filled with personal thoughts and experiences, also are full of an assortment of stylistic choices such as repetition and comparisons that emphasize many deep, underlying ideas.
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...
Lopata, Helena Znaniecki. "Self Identity in Marriage and Widowhood." Sociological Quarterly 14.3 (1973): 407-18. Print.
Different writing styles present different tone and emotion. For example, a story about being in the war has more negative emotion than a story of a child being in her bedroom. Also, a story about a child makes the reader feel more relaxed and has an easier environment than a woman who is trying to be independent, which could encourage others to be independent themselves. Furthermore, when we analyze literature, we could find out that different authors have different writing styles. For instance, an adult could see a child’s visions, a war victim could talk positively while recalling her memories, and a person can be straightforward while chasing full independence. Also, when we read these stories, we can relate them to our own experiences.
She is expected to live under the shadows of her husband commands and seize the stereotype of "the ideal housewife." A women’s identity is define by the idea of her gender and the internal forces that force her to fallow this notion. In many cases, the simple idea of pursuing a political career causes dismay in society. However, in order for a woman to achieve a level of equality that is just, there must be a change in the infrastructure of the women’s role, politically, and economically. In the article “Autonomy and the Struggle for Female Identity: Implications for Counseling Women,” McBride strongly declares, “Much of the feminist literature over the last 20 years has focused on the injustices done to women in our society, the need to validate women for their differences from men, and the need to move toward equality politically, economically, and socially ” (McBride 22). McBride concurs with the idea of providing women a place in society to encourage social acceptance in their work, and help them shape their own positive identity in their respective fields (22). This is not an issue that has risen in our society recently, but is an issue that we have taken for granted, and seen as a normal aspect of a women’s