1. What is the effect of Brady’s opening sentence, “I belong to that classification of people known as wives”? Why do you think she uses the phrase “Classification of people”?
The first sentence can make a person blink their eyes and reread it because until the end of the sentence, which comes up fast, you don’t really expect to see the word “wives.” On forms people are usually asked to classify themselves according to gender, race, religion or income and that sort of label. But the idea of a form asking you to classify yourself as a wife sounds out of place. Also the idea of a woman putting herself into a ‘people classification of wife’ is humorous because butterflies are classified by species and so are reptiles. Plants and animals are expected to be described by their biological or zoological classification but not wives.
I think she use the phrase “classification of people” to emphasize that wives are people too. Wives aren’t just people who live in house taking care of other people they have feelings and needs too. Another thing is that some people who pick up the essay may think that it will be about a man who is saying “I want a wife.” So she makes it very clear from the beginning that she is a wife who wants a wife.
2. Why does Brady keep repeating “I want a wife.”? What effect(s) does the phrase have as a consequence of its being continually repeated?
Repeating the phrase “I want a wife” is a rhetorical device which emphasizes the phrase and in that way emphasizes the feeling of the author. Repeating the phrase helps her make her point. Maybe because she feels that wives are not given much value in the world she feels she has to repeat the word and the phrase again and again to make her point forcefully. The phrase occurs thirty times in the text and 31 times if you include the title. Not only that Ms Brady uses the words “wife, wives or wife’s” about three dozen more times.
The phrase being repeated over again and again adds a rhythm to the reading of the essay. Also the humor is tongue in cheek. By repeating the phrase the reader has to take the author somewhat seriously even if they think the idea is outrageous.
3. Comment on Brady’s use of italics in this essay. In what way is effective, distracting, or overly dramatic?
Ms Brady uses italics three times to bring special attention to three words. First she says “I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs.” She is a wife and has no one to look after her physical needs although she takes care of everyone else. I think she italicizes “my” because since she is a wife she doesn’t have her needs met and is overlooked. She has to emphasize her need for a wife to take care of her physical needs.
Secondly she writes, “a wife who is a good cook.” This phrase can trip a reader up a little because it doesn’t follow the rhythm. But maybe she does that on purpose because it’s not enough to have a cook; she wants a good cook. That is important to her to have in a wife like it is important to many husbands.
Thirdly, in the very last sentence she writes, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” This is the best use of the italics because this is used often in conversation to emphasize how logical a statement is, so of course, who wouldn’t want a wife. She makes a great point this way that everyone would want a wife after she has explained all the things a wife does.
