I want a wife responses

1. Does this essay have an explicitly stated thesis? If so, what is it? If you believe the thesis is implied, paraphrase it in your own words. 

 -No, this essay does not have a stated thesis.  I believe the thesis is that she wants someone to do everything a wife does for her.

2. Throughout the essay, Brady repeats the words “I want a wife.” What is the effect of this repetition?

 -The effect of this repetition is that it tells the reader everything a wife does that men take for granted.  It shows them that there are a lot of responsibilities that a wife has.

3. Brady never uses the personal pronouns he or she to refer to the wife she defines. Why not? 

 -She never uses personal pronouns because she does not actually want a wife, these are just the responsibilities that she has as a wife.

4. Do you think Brady really wants the kind of wife she describes—does this ideal spouse

actually exist? Explain why you think Brady wrote this essay. 

 -She probably would like to have a wife that does everything stated in the essay.  This ideal spouse does not exist, but when you love someone enough they come pretty close to it.  I think Brady wrote this essay because she is tired of having the womanily responsibilities around the home and wants to go to school to learn and be higher up in society.

 5. How does Brady define what it means to be a “wife”? How does she organize the many services a wife provides her husband and family? What do you think of Brady’s characterization of a wife and her responsibilities? How do you think she wants her readers to respond to this characterization? Why?

 -Brady defines it to be a wife as doing things around the home such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children.  She organizes the services a wife provides chronologically in what needs to be done first, second, etc.  Her characterization of a wife is pretty spot on.  She wants readers to resond in a sympathetic way and feel sorry for women by portraying them as slaves.

6. Write a letter to Brady responding to “I Want a Wife.” Let her know what you admire or don’t admire about the essay and the extent to which you consider it effective and/or persuasive. 

-Dear Mrs. Brady, I personally didn't admire your essay, I somewhat took offense to it as a guy.  I think you should stop complaining about your responsibilities as a woman and as a wife and get back in the kitchen to make some sandwiches. 
This is the way society is, so you should get use to it because it isn't going to change.  This is still true today, 40 years later.  I did however find it effective on weaker people.  They could feel sorry for women and try and do something about it.  It was clever how you used satire to say that you don't really want a wife.  Goodbye, Ben  

7. Write your own piece entitled “I Want a/an X.” You can use Brady’s essay as a model, and in the process, imitate some of her stylistic techniques. Or, alternatively, write an essay about the role of a “wife” in the early twenty-first century, explaining how a wife’s responsibilities complement and are complemented by those of a spouse.

-I want a sister. I want a sister that obsesses about how she looks every second of every day trying to impress her so called “friends”.  I want a sister that screams and yells at the top of her lungs when she doesn’t get what she wants.  I would love it if my sister did that; I would think to myself “She is handling her problems like such an adult right now.”  I want a sister that dresses like a stripper at school and thinks that she is more important then everybody else.  I want a sister that will make me food at a moment’s notice and will do anything I say.  I want a sister that doesn’t think independently an thinks what everybody else is thinking.  I want a sister that is dumb, that gets bad grades in school and doesn’t even care about them because someday they will marry some rich guy and grades won’t matter then.  That is the kind of sister I would be proud of.