Use of rhetorical devices such as repetition, informality, and irony in Cypher’s “Why I Want a Wife” open a window into her views of the treatment of wives and their relationships to their husbands.
One of the most evident rhetorical strategies that Cypher uses to present her view of the grossly unfair treatment of women is the repetition that’s present throughout the entire article. The latter part of the title, “I want a Wife”(Cypher) is even repeated over 20 times. Other words like ‘my’ and ‘me’ are repeated countless times, each time making a demand to Cypher’s imaginative wife. This repetition sets out a demanding mood for the entire article, as only the husband’s wants are mentioned, and the wife is simply expected to meet his demands and focus on him before anything else. There are no mentions of ‘we’ or ‘our’ or any other words…show more content… During the piece, there are no complexly constructed phrases, or excessively difficult diction. Cypher uses simple phrases, such as: “I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs”(Cypher). These lines add informality into the article, which helps the author ironically establish that the points she has offered are simple, and so factual that they don’t even need to be academic. Phrases such as “I want... a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school” (Cypher), are presented with the same level of assumed infallibility as phrases such as: ‘The sky is blue’, prompting the reader to not question its objective nature, and accept her statements as a standard amongst all marriages.
Cypher’s heavy-handed use of rhetorical strategies allows “Why I Want a Wife” to provide a concise meaning to the reader. She is able to convey the truths of her relationship through heavy irony, and her simple, repetitive and pointed
