Why I Want A Wife By Judy Brady

Analysis of “Why I want a Wife” “Why do I want a wife” (229). Judy Brady asked this question in 1972 and would ask the same question again in 1990. Judy was trying to show the injustice imposed on wives by their husbands to do this she takes on a man’s point of view to connect with the readers of the essay in a time when women did not yet have the same rights as a man. In the essay “Why I Want a Wife” published in Ms. Magazine in 1972 Judy Brady uses ethos and pathos to build support for her claim with the readers of Ms. Magazine; Judy’s claim is that wives are taken for granted.

The ethos in Brady’s essay supports her claim by showing her credentials on the subject of wives and their duties of the time. Judy shows her authority on the subject

Judy begins to show the injustice imposed on wives when she says, “I want a wife who will work and send me to school” (229) then she goes on to say, “And while I am going to school, I want a wife to take care of my children” (229) this shows that husbands expect wives to care for the children and make enough money to support the family by themselves while their husbands study at school. The pathos Brady uses in this statement creates the feeling of a wife’s irritation with her husband: “ Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working working” (229). A wife must “arrange to loss time at work and not loss the job” (229), because her husband can not “miss classes at school” (229). Although, his wife’s income would be less he could “tolerate that” (229) this gives the reader the impression that husbands think of their wives as less than themselves. Again Judy gives the impression that husbands think of their wives as less than themselves when she says “I want to wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course studies”

Giving readers the idea that husbands of this time wanted to be treated like children as they want their wife to “take care” (229) of them. The pathos used in the quotes mentioned earlier is Brady’s way of connecting with her intended audience which are the readers of Ms. Magazine who we can assume, based on the name of the magazine, are single and married