The Quest for a More Suitable Companion

The Quest for a More Suitable Companion

Although the cultural beliefs of 2017 are much different than those of 1971, Judy Brady delivers a message in her essay “I Want a Wife” that is still applicable to the modern society. There were several things I admired in Brady’s essay. One thing was one of the main messages she was trying to get across: the lack of appreciation the wife received during that time. I do not have much personal experience but I believe even now whoever in a marriage stays at home to do the family tasks is underappreciated. Whether it be the wife or husband, the stay-at-home spouse is never respected for the immense amount of work they do to keep the family running at a productive level. Another thing I admired was Brady saying, in an ironic way, women can be economically dependent and do the jobs that men do. Women can absolutely be the economic head of the house and be the one that is working in a relationship, which was hard for many men to imagine in the early 1970’s.

While Brady made some fantastic and, frankly, progressive points, she did so in a way that I did not enjoy. Yes, I believe the irony assisted in her being more effective. Yes, I agree that the irony and sarcasm was needed. However, I did not like how much of it there was, the essay started out quite passive aggressive and became flat-out aggressive. I think that could have, while boosting her effectiveness to underappreciated wives, harmed her persuasiveness to men rather severely. No one enjoys being told what they are doing or what they believe is wrong, especially in an aggressive way and especially a woman to a man during that time period. It is important in a marriage to decide who is going to support the other while they pursue a greater education, and who is going to pursue a greater paying job. Either wife or husband can do so, but one person usually has to and the other person should respect and be grateful for the sacrifices their spouse is making.

I briefly mentioned previously the influence I believe Brady’s essay had. In further detail, I believe her essay elicited a response from two groups. The first group is the obvious group Brady is writing for, the underappreciated wives. The writing was most likely highly effective in this demographic since they were the ones Brady was trying to arouse. The other group is the terrible men that do in fact overlook their wife and leave her for a more “suitable” companion. Brady was either ineffective or effective with this group, depending if she wanted to anger them. The way Brady wrote this essay clearly made them seem like the bad people, and so this demographic most likely responded with denial and anger.

The essay relates to Medea in a couple of ways. The first is Brady mentioning how men leave their wife for a more “suitable” lady. Medea would directly relate to this since Jason left her quickly for the princess. He saw her as more attractive, younger, and part of royal blood. To him, she was much more suitable than Medea. Medea would also relate to the part of the essay that mentions men not only leaving their wife but leaving them with no support. Jason expected Medea to be able to support and provide for the family that both of them created. She simply could not take care of, on her own, what the two of them built up; Jason did not help provide after he left just like how some men do which Brady mentioned in her essay. Jason should have supported his family in some way even after he rudely left them. Medea would have related with most of the essay, but she especially would have with these two points.