The Effectiveness of Satirical Pieces as Displayed in Brady's "Why I Want a Wife" and Baker's "School vs. Education"

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Recommended: Women in literature

“Why I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady and “School vs. Education” by Russell Baker are two satirical pieces that criticize two different fields of society and yet manages to present a robust grounds for argument. Brady, an active member of women’s movement and a writer of mostly feminism articles wrote “Why I Want a Wife”, an essay where she humorously writes down a lists of why she wants a wife but embeds the unsolicited role of women in the society. On the other hand, Baker, a Pulitzer Prize winner and author wrote “School vs. Education”, a newspaper column that observes the American educational system and how individuals knowledge is formed and whether the individuals educational foundation is acquired through an institution or just right from the streets. Though both authors used a satire form of writing on the said pieces, Brady panned in the domestic arena as Baker on the educational area and both effectively conveyed their messages for they left their readers laughing and thinking.

Considering the time when “Why I Want a Wife” was written, 1972, the domestic roles of a man and a woman were customarily enclosed as man, the breadwinner and woman, the homemaker. Brady, during those times, recognizes the inequality of roles played between genders and made a stand through her journalistic liberty by writing this piece. She deliberately writes this essay in a comical and sometimes absurd way so readers like us will laugh, but conspicuously set down the truth that the roles of women are just to be a babysitter/nanny, personal and sexual slaves and even metaphorically resembled to a dishrag that in the end really made us think. She mentions that she wants a good nurturant for her kids and making sure that they are ready for bed before...

... middle of paper ...

...hey were taught and treated by the people who is supposed to educate them and that “the race is to the cunning and often, alas, to the unprincipled.” (Baker,76). In conclusion, Russell Baker looked and scrutinized the formation of knowledge and learning of an individual in American society and how perfect it looks and sounds like but always been imperfect all along.

Through the use of simple words, truthful and relatable situations, Brady and Baker respectively conveyed their messages for they left their readers thinking. Brady, sets down an array of characteristics of why she wants a wife and left her readers a question, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?”

Works Cited
Brady, Judy. “Why I Want a Wife”. The Mercury Reader. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009.

61-3.

Baker, Russell. “School vs. Education”. The Mercury Reader. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009.

74-6.

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