Throughout this piece, Judy Brady convinces the audience of a man’s perspective and expectations of a wife. From the start of the piece, Brady, ‘a wife. And, not altogether incidentally… a mother’, uses ethos to convince the audience that she is knowledgable about her subject due to her experiences as a wife and a mother. Through the use of a first-person voice, Brady mimics the perspective and beliefs of men in which they want ‘a wife who will keep [their] house clean… clothes clean, ironed, mended, [and] replaced when need be’.  Brady’s use of an irritated tone presents that the female persona is fed up with their daily chores, therefore, expressing an important issue with their identity – they are powerless and bound by the expectations of men in a society where there are gender role imbalances.

Brady also evokes sympathy for wives who have multiple responsibilities at home through the use of pathos. She addresses the stress and pressure on wives that are placed by their husbands,  and finally, uses a rhetorical question, ‘My god, who wouldn’t want a wife?’ to evoke emotions and to indicate the stress a wife experiences. Brady also appeals to the audience’s intellect through the use of logos where she provides various arguments regarding the issues of a wife’s identity in which their identity is  suppressed by their husbands’ . For instance, she portrays the inequality between a husband and wife by addressing herself as a man that wants ‘to go back to school [and] become economically independent’, and that the man wants a wife ‘that will take care of [him and his] children’. Clearly, Brady argues that husbands expect way too much from their wives in order to keep themselves satisfied and not overly stressed, but she also touches on the stereotypical belief of a patriarchal society that women should stay at home and men should work, educate themselves and be the dominant one in a relationship. Additionally, Brady uses irony throughout the piece to make it seem as if a man was writing his expectations of a wife and the roles they would play in their lives. Additionally, Brady emphasizes the lack of freedom in a wife’s life where she ‘remain sexually faithful’, however, the husband may not follow ‘strict adherence to monogamy’. In a way, Brady uses a sarcastic tone to exaggerate the expectations of a wife and husband in a relationship.

Overall, many issues are highlighted such as gender inequality, lack of freedom, and the pressure on women to abide by the expectations of a wife.