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Critical analysis of "of mice and men
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Curley’s Wife is no exception to this belief of Steinbeck’s. Always wanting to be an actress since a young age, her dreams have been shut down on multiple occasions, mainly by her mother. “I met one of the actors. He says I could go with the show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.” -(Pg. 88). Being a hopeless dreamer, Curley’s wife dreams of a better life, a life where she weren’t lonely and despised by the men of the ranch. Even with her being married, it made no difference. Curley didn’t provide any love or affection to his wife. Unfortunately her loneliness is was lead Curley’s wife to her demise. All she wanted was a friend, and in the end, she never got one. …show more content…
Some may argue that this was Lennie’s dream as well, but he did not share the same dream as the other two men. “They fell in silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true. George said reverently, “Jesus Christ! I bet we could swing her.” -(Pg. 60). Steinbeck does an amazing job of making this dream seem as if it were going to happen. Even Crooks, the stable hand, was surprised that they were going to accomplish this vision. George and Candy’s dream was almost real, but it received the same fate as all the others. The dream became as broken as Curley’s Wife’s neck. “Then--it’s all off?” Candy asked sulkily. George didn’t answer his question. George said, “I’ll work my month an’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some poolroom till ever’body goes home. An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another month an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more.” -(Pg. 94) Though Lennie did not share the same dream, it wasn’t the same dream without
In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as a flirtatious, mischievous, and over all isolated woman. Steinbeck doesn’t give this character a name, yet she is one of the most important characters in the story. Curley’s wife first comes off as flirtatious to the main characters, George and Lenny, when they first hear about her from the character Candy . Candy is talking about how she gives men “the eye”. He also displays his feelings about her by saying, “Well, I think Curley’s married… a tart”(28). This is setting George and Lenny up to expect she is a flirt.. Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife in her first introduction as a scantily dressed woman.. Steinbeck writes, “Both men [George and Lenny] glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, roughed lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled cluster, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers”(31). The color red is sometimes considered for portraying a sign of danger or sex. This passage supports Curley’s wife as being flirtatious and also how she’s dangerous and can cause trouble displaying herself while she is married. Also, when George and Lenny are talking to Curley’s wife she tries to flirtatiously talk to them too. After their first conversation she re-adjusts herself. Steinbeck displays her with “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”(31). Steinbeck is explaining to the reader in detail that Curley’s wife is trying to show herself to Lenny and George to get thei...
“Nobody’d listen to us” (81) exclaims Crooks when talking about being ignored. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy experiencing loneliness and isolation while living on the ranch. These characters attempt to socialize, succeeding and failing. Loneliness and isolation of the characters results in yelling, bullying, and even a broken neck.
The novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, contains many characters that would significantly change the plot if they were not there to be in it. One of these characters is Curley. Curley is a minor character who plays a large role. He is like the bully of the story and is the cause of many of the events that take place on the ranch. There are multiple ways that the story would change if Curley was non-existent.
Curley's Wife in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. ‘Of Mice and Men’ was originally a novel by John Steinback which was written in 1937. It was also made into a film in 1939, and then later. in 1992. It is a tale of the friendship between two men, George and Lennie, who has travelled to work on a ranch together and how their friendship is put to the test.
How does the reader’s perception of Curley’s Wife change through the book? In Of Mice and Men the reader’s opinion of Curley’s Wife changes throughout the book, in the beginning of the book the reader looks at her as trouble. Near the end the reader starts to feel sympathetic towards her. Although all the characters look at her as a “tramp”, despise, and avoid her, the reader sees her differently. The reader sees how miserable she is, and how many other things she has to put up with everyday. She might not be the nicest person out there, but she is still a person with feelings. The reader’s feelings drastically change from the beginning of the book to the end. She is perceived negatively repeatedly throughout the book, by all the characters at many different times. She is known as the “tramp” at the ranch, the reader would obviously think negatively of Curley’s Wife when all the characters are talking trash about her. In chapter 2 George said to Lennie “I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.” After reading this how could the reader see Curley’s Wife in any other way. As the reader I also despised Curley’s Wife, I didn’t want her to get close to Lennie or George because I knew she would try and get them in trouble or something bad would happen with her being there. This quote specifies how almost every man felt on this ranch, and this was very early on in the book, George had not even had a decent conversation with her and he was already talking about her in this way. This was not only in the beginning of the book; at the scene of her death Candy was shouting “you got damn tramp” at her dead body. This shows even when she is dead, how little everyone cared about her. The r...
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, after Lennie’s death, there are many people to blame, but Curley and Curley’s Wife are to blame more than anyone else and there are strong reasons as to why.
married to a man called Curley who has a lot of authority in the ranch
“I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her” (George) what is the reader supposed to think about Curley’s wife?
Curley’s wife, in the story her and crooks will probably be the most unsuccessful dreamers because of their roles in society, this is establishing the idea of obstacles and dreams. Curley’s wife at some points will become so lonely that she dreams for someone to talk to and when she gets the chance in the story we find out she had many more dreams. For example, in the text Curley’s wife says “Nother time I met a guy, and he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.” Further into the story we learn that she never got that letter, that was another obstacle that Curley’s wife had to face all to be in the movies. Unfortunately, on the ranch all the boys thought she was trouble so they would stay away until she tried to talk to lennie and ended getting her neck broken breaking all of her
In conclusion I believe that Curley’s Wife is a very significant character in the novella because she represents the stereotypical woman and they way she acted, and was treated leads me to feel great sympathy for her despite her flirtatious demeanour. Steinbeck is very successful in creating sympathy throughout her character change and he presents her in this way to prove that the majority of women went through similar situations. This leads us to sympathise with all people society deem to be ‘inferior’ and we can even apply this lesson to today’s society.
Steinbeck introduces Curleys wife as being a complex character.Her navity and flirtatiousness leads to her inevitable death at the hands of lennie which allows reader to have mixed feelings about sympathising with her.
Steinbeck displays, Curley’s wife as more of an object to the men at the ranch. He conveys this idea through the description of her appearance. When Steinbeck introduces the reader and George and Lennie to Curley’s wife he takes a long time to describe her. “She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her finger nails were red “. This quotation suggests that Curley’s wife is an object to men in society and that she is as worth as much as she is wearing. Not only does Steinbeck describe her appearance he also describes her actions when on the ranch and talking to the men. He does this to show the awareness that the men have towards her. “She puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”. A lot of the men on the ranch try to ignore and do not want to start a conversation with her but through Steinbeck’s description of her actions the reader can see that she craves attention from the men on the
Curley’s wife is an outsider on the ranch, simply because she is the one. only woman there is. Steinbeck never named Curley’s wife. She is defined by her relationship with Curley, as his property, not as an individual. Namelessness also has the effect of reinforcing how insignificant she is in the life of the ranch, how dependent she is on Curley, for her.
In Of Mice & Men, the character Curley’s Wife is depicted as flirtatious, promiscuous, and insensitive. However, her husband Curley sees her as only a possession. Most of the workers at the ranch see her as a tart, whereas Slim, the peaceful and god-like figure out of all the men, see her as lonely. This answer will tell us to which extent, is Curley’s wife a victim, whether towards her flirtatious behaviour, or to everyone’s representation of her.
exploded. "Come on ya big bastard, get up on your feet. No big son of