“Why I Want a Wife” a satirical essay by Judy Brady Class analysis

Analysis of Rhetorical Questions and Anaphora Arun and Juan

Rhetorical Questions Definition: A question asked for effect to emphasise a point. No answer is expected.

Rhetorical Questions (RQ) "Why do I want a wife?" – End of the 1st paragraph "My God, who wouldn't want a wife?" - End of the text The author uses RQ's to further emphasise that this piece is a satire. To ask something she already knows is quite ironic and possibly humorous. Also RQ is used to be interactive in a sense that it is getting its female readers to think about themselves.

Anaphora Definition: Repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.

Anaphora "I want a wife" "my wife" The author uses anaphora to keep the idea in the readers heads. It's like repetition in the fact that it is used as a tool to memorise the purpose of the text. Using anaphora the author emphasises the point that they really want a wife.

Satire & Irony By Chris and Sam

Tone & Purpose Satire – The satire that the author conveys is used to ridicule society’s standards that are set for women. The reason the tone is set as being satirical is because Judy Brady has been able to take a relevant sexist matter and suggest that, if this is the set standard, then of course everybody would want a wife ‘My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?’ – also showing the injustice or neglect for women’s rights by excluding their emotion (through out the text) and simply listing requirements or expectations of the wife.

Satire: Influence on The Audience The influence on the target audience (Women/housewives, younger girls) is effective because by the end of the text, the reader is able to realize that it points out the ridiculous expectations and that fulfilling this wouldn’t be the preferred option unless you want to attain a systematic, or almost robotic lifestyle. This encourages other women to see the inequality in gender roles and push for a more equal standard.

Hyperbole Zach and Julie -Extreme exaggeration of a point to make it more clear. -In this text, the author uses hyperbole to exaggerate the unfairness of the wife’s role.

-“I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me…” This shows that the role of the wife is to listen and not complain whereas the husband’s role is to vent to the wife. This example exaggerates and highlights the difference and unfairness of the roles between husband and wife to make it more apparent to the reader.

-“I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt…” gives the impression that the wife is a servant, she is supposed to set up the event, then gets out of the way once it starts. This example is used to exaggerate the unbalance between the duties and workload of the wife and the praise she gets in return, which evokes rage, which is targeted at the male gender role.

Organization -Organized into paragraphs. -Each paragraph has a clear topic, which is declared in the first sentence. -Done because the purpose is to make the inequality very clear and obvious to the reader, and this clearly states the duties of the wife in each area of life.

-Paragraph 1 discusses how the wife "supports those dependant upon [the wife]" -Paragraph 2 discusses "taking care of [the] physical needs" -Paragraph 3 discusses "details of [the husband's] social life" -Paragraph 4 discusses "[the husband's] sexual needs"

Verbal Irony Emily

Purpose: To highlight inequality of gender roles Audience: Housewives and younger women who are being raised into that role

Quotation 1 ‘It may mean a small cut in my wide’s income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that.’ -This shows the husband can cut his wife’s income from time to time, which links back to the purpose of the text, to show the inequality of gender roles. By mentioning ‘I guess I can tolerate that’, shows if she is the one who experience this, she doesn’t think she can tolerate. This intended to influence the reader by stating the inequality and to encourage them to resist.

Quotation 2 ‘remain sexually faithful’, ‘my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy’ -By mentioning women should remain sexually faithful, yet women should understand men may have multiple partners, shows the audience the inequality between genders. It creates a contrast of the role of a man and a woman.