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Portrayal of women in mice and men
Analysis of John Steinbeck
Literary content on racism
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In the book of mice and men by John Steinbeck, we as the audience feel confounded about Curly's wife. The question that is presented here on this my access assessment is whether Curly's wife is a victim or a villain. I am leaning toward the fact that Curly's wife is actually a villain in this book. Let's start off by knowing who exactly Curly's wife is and what this book is all about. Curly's wife is the wife of Curly who is one of the main side characters in the book. He works at a farm like all the other characters in the book, and they all live in a bunk house together for the job. The setting is set back in the 1930's about two men, George and Lenny, who are trying to achieve the American dream. I feel that Curly's wife is a villain because …show more content…
She gives people especially the men around the bunkhouse the eye which I perceive as a flirt to the men. Not only that but when she headed back to the bunkhouse only to find everyone else besides Curly, she regarded them as the weak ones. That is not a very nice thing to say to others, is it. Curly's wife seems to take advantage of others when she can. For an example, she could make Lenny do what she wants whenever because Lenny likes her.
Secondly, Curly's wife is the most racist character in the novel. She was really aggressive towards Crooks after he got mad at her for invading her rights and privacy. Curly's wife snapped back and called Crooks a "nigger" multiple times. She told Crooks what she could do to him within seconds and threatened him multiple times and even threatened to hang him on a tree. That's cruel, and to think Curly's wife was a victim too. I thought wrong and I totally agree with my opinions I may have about Curly's
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As she finds out what happened to Curly's hand, she laughs and mocks what happened to him by saying bologna. Curly's wife found out from the other men that Curly had gotten his hand stuck in a machine and she stated that she likes machines now. This implies to the audience that she liked that fact that he gotten his hand hurt in the machine. Curly's wife is becoming even more evil as I read about her.
On the other hand, some say that Curly's wife was actually a victim to prejudice and abuse from the men. Not only that but she had gotten her neck snapped by Lenny which makes the audience quite more favorable towards Curly's wife since she died. Curly's wife was always mistreated, abused, lonely, had no future or nothing. Not only that but she is in a very unhappy marriage as suggested through her feelings about Curly. I guess Lenny snapping the neck of the rat kind of foreshadows Curly's wife getting her neck snapped by Lenny because she was a
Curley’s wife comes off as a provocative, flirtatious, lustful woman, but is really hiding her true identity as a depressed and lonely person. Throughout the book Curley’s wife does show her true identity, but still tries to stay positive and deal with the bad hand she was dealt. Curley’s wife is a prime example of even though your life took a wrong turn that you shouldn’t give up. Curley’s wife may of been depressed, but she still tried to communicate everyday with someone no matter what they said to her.
Curly declares his wife “no good” and Jack vehemently agrees with him. From the very beginning, this film is focused on people doing immoral things and the upsetting consequences that come from these actions. The situation in this opening prepares the audience for the sicker, more twisted revelations to come.
Curley’s wife’s femininity may be seen as her greatest weakness or flaw to most, but she rapidly discovers that it is also her only weapon on the ranch and learns to use it to her advantage. Therefore, she puts up an alluring and sultry front in an attempt to receive attention, because she is aware that none of the men on the farm respect her because of her position as a woman. The men's blatant lack of respect for her belittles the miniscule amount of power she has acquired
Curly had a wife, who had the figure that all men liked and the character of a mouse. She constantly provoked Curly into fighting men who she enticed.
...talking about how Curly’s wife hates to stay in the house all day and doing nothing. Her behavior of being disappointed is getting really flirtatious to other guys but she also gets that way because her husband doesn’t really talk to her nor does nothing with her so she gets lonely without him. I think that Curly’s wife and Curly shouldn’t have got married because they don’t like each other and they can’t stand each other.
Curley’s wife is given a reputation of causing trouble between other characters from different characters in the novel. There is no evidence of her living up to all of the reputation in the novel. Candy says “Well she got the eye” which could have many meanings and then he backs that up with “I seen her give Slim the eye” and finally he says “Well I think Curley’s married…a tart.” This explains his views on Curley’s wife. And when she dies he calls her a ...
Steinbeck shows the danger that Curley’s Wife poses to the men, at the point in which she is first discussed by Candy and George. Candy is seen gossiping to George, warning him about Curley’s Wife, explaining how ‘she got the eye’ and that she is ‘a tart’, prejudicing the reader before we are really introduced to her. This leads the reader to believe that there are no other levels to this
The reader sees that Curley’s wife goes into crook’s room when he is there with Lennie. Curley’s wife is racist. A white woman should have never been in a room with a black man because in the 1930s, many Americans believed that black people were inferior we see crook stand up for himself at first and says “we don’t want to trouble.”
Racial tension has played such a big part in American history that it appears as themes for even the most famous novels. In Of Mice and Men, the character of "Crooks" is the biggest symbol of racial discrimination throughout the entire novel. Crooks is a worker on the ranch, just like the main characters Lennie and George, but Crooks is an African-American man. Since there is a difference in race between Crooks and the other workers on the ranch, Crooks has to live in smaller, filthier quarters than the other ranchhands. An article written by eNovels.com goes more in depth about the racial discrimination that Crooks faces in the novel. The article explains an event in the book, where Curly's wife just walks right in to Crooks' room because she thinks she is higher in status than him. The source quotes a line by Crooks that says, "You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all," in which Curley's wife replies, "Well, you keep your place then. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny," (Steinbeck 17). The source also points out that Crooks and Lennie are both social outcasts. Crooks is because of his race, and Lennie is because of his awkward personality and mental handicap ("How Does Steinbeck Show Racial Discrimination with Crooks in Of Mice and Men?"). Steinbeck shows the audience the discrimination Americans
and as a flirtatious person, she responded to this by stating “you can’t blame no one for looking”. Curley’s wife does not care what attention she gets and ends up seeking attention from Lennie which results to her mournful death.
But nobody knew the true side of Curley’s wife. On page 88 Curley’s wife says to Lennie, “What kinda harm am I doin’ to you? Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself. Curley’s wife would go around the ranch trying to talk to the other men, but is usually shut down since she is Curley’s wife. All Curley’s wife wanted was a friend that she could talk to. She also couldn’t talk to Curley during the day since he was working all day. Curley’s wife just wanted to be in shows and in movies, but she just ended up being married to someone she didn’t even want to be with. While Curley’s wife was known on the ranch to sneak around with other men, people didn’t know that she was only lonely and was only looking for someone to talk
When Curly’s wife went to Crooks to ask if he has seen Curly around, Curly said that he hasn’t seen him, but still she was standing there and Crooks said, “You got no rights coming in a coloured man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all.” Steinbeck’s use of Crook’s dialogue shows that Crooks had enough pride and independence to stand up to Curly’s wife. She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, Nigger,” she said. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself. Steinbeck uses Curly’s wife’s dialogue to tell the readers that Crooks was always discriminated against. When Lennie was wandering around at the ranch and went into Crook’s room, Crooks said, “You go get outta my rooms. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house and you ain’t wanted in my room.” Steinbeck uses crook’s dialogue, racism and loneliness to demonstrate that Crooks wanted to be left alone, but also from inside he wants to talk to someone. Readers may feel sympathy at Steinbeck’s idea of racism. Crooks was always treated badly and is always discriminated against.
Curly is the bosses son and takes full advantage of it by picking on the other workers especially Lennie. He likes to lie and gets angry easily. He's not very confident especially in his wife because he thinks that she's cheating on him.
Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. Because of the way she looks and acts, people think she is easy, or a "tart". " ‘Jesus, what a tramp,’ he said. ‘So that’s what Curley picks for a wife.’ " said George, p.35. She just wants someone to talk to.
The character of Curley’s Wife is very hard to unravel, as throughout the book, Steinbeck’s representation of women through characters such as George and Candy, is very harsh. This is because the sociological opinion at that time was that they were either, mothers, sisters, or prostitutes, as the audience soon see, George and other ranch workers refer to her as “bitch” “loo loo” and “tramp”. There were also a growing number of prostitutes during the Great Depression period, as they would offload their services to those whom were able to pay and have some decent income during the Depression. Other aspects that may make Curley’s Wife seem like a tart, is Curley’s “Glove Fulla’ Vaseline”. Curley literally keeps a glove full of Vaseline, in order to keep his hand soft, possibly for a sexual act. Curley boasts to Candy that the hand is for his wife, which tells us that she gives him consent to do these acts to her, and also, Curley’s nerve to inform fellow workers about his glove shows that he believes that his own wife is a tart, which is very controversial today, but back then, women were seen as nothing more than possessions, yours to do what you will. George informs Lennie to avoid Curley’s Wife at all costs, and not to talk to her, because of her promiscuous behaviour, he believes t...