Ejemplo De Ensayo

John Doe

ECLT 102-3

Essay One, Final Draft

Oct. 7, 2003

The Art of Persuasion: Women’s Oppression by Two Feminist Writers

Judy Syfers’ essay “I Want A Wife” introduces to an unmarried woman what married life is all about and to raises consciousness of the subordinate role a woman will take after marriage. The intended audience for this text is not academics or scholars. Syfers is more likely focusing on unmarried women, and that is why she published her writing in Ms. Magazine. She accomplishes her purpose by writing about all the tasks and roles of a wife. The second text is “Liberation of Women: Sexual Repression and the Family” by Laurel Limpus. The intended audience for this text is everyone; all women and men. The purpose of her text is to try and get more people to join the Women’s Liberation Movement, which was taking place at that time. Limpus does so by writing about the oppression women went through at that period of time, and she examined all the aspects and reasons as to why women were oppressed. “I Want A Wife” by Judy Syfers is more convincing to its intended audience than “Liberation of Women” because it is humorous, its language is accessible to the reader, and the author has authority as she relates to her personal experience as a wife and mother.

Humor is an important tool a writer should use to get and keep the reader’s attention. Syfers successfully achieves this aspect in her writing. She uses irony and a witty, humorous tone to provide comic relief for her audience. Since the text is written to secretaries, students, and single women in general (housewives might also be reading Ms. Magazine), its humor will catch their attention because of their young age. The students do a lot of studying and the secretaries are busy with their work. Therefore, Syfers’ text works best for them because they can read it during a short break, and it will provide them with some comic relief. The humor in the text will also cover up any insult housewives might feel because of the reality spoken about their subordinate roles. Syfers’ humor, represented by the contradictory passage, “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it,” made her text become widely spread all over the internet and in anthologies, while Laurel Limpus’ text can only be found in three websites, with only one containing the whole text. In contrast to Syfers’ irony, Limpus’ text is too serious, which is most likely going to be unappreciated by the audience the text is written to. Even from the very first sentence of her text, Limpus writes, “This is an attempt to deal with some of the theoretical problems of the liberation of women, particularly as they relate to sexuality and sexual repression.” Although she moves right to the point of her text, she is more likely to repel some of the audience she could have won had she not been as serious.

Not only does Syfers provide humor in her text, but she also uses simple, accessible language, which is a very important aspect of any piece of writing. When the language is simplified, the text’s audience broadens. Syfers uses easily understandable terminology and vocabulary and still gets her point through. Since her text is aimed at young students and secretaries, who are not necessarily university graduates, the accessible language will make them be able to easily understand what they are reading. Syfers uses simple phrases like, “Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is looking for another wife,” to clearly get her point through.

...