Why do women constantly test men? How far will most of them take it? Women bring their self to harm without knowing it. Curley’s wife is so lost and lonely that John Steinbeck doesn’t even give her a name in Of Mice and Men. She spends the novel trying to find company with the excuse of looking for her husband. She projects tones in her voice so that almost everything she says is sexual. But George Milton cannot keep Lennie Small from a flirtatious women, knowing she would bring trouble. Curley’s wife should be blamed for her own death because she seeks attention from guys, she provoked Lennie, and she puts herself in bad situations.
The first reason why Curley’s wife should be blamed for her death because she seeks attention from guys. Starting
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at the very beginning of the novel, Curley’s wife walked into the men’s bunkhouse apparently looking for Curley. Her body was thrown forward mainly to gain more attention and she is aware she is flirting and uses an excuse like “Have you seen Curley” (31). She stood in the door way of the barn smiling and rubbing her nails, eyes traveling to each guy. Stating that she knows where Curley went. Along with “If I catch any one man alone I get along just fine. But let two get together and they won’t talk” (77). Given by the way Curley treats her she seeks attention from anyone who would listen. Along with that she provoked Lennie.
Knowing Lennie’s condition she chose to talk to him and let him touch her hair. Lennie told her that he shouldn’t be talking to her. Making her own choice she continued to stick around to chat, pressuring Lennie to touch her soft hair. He tried to tell her no but she insisted for him to do so (90). Therefore, provoking Lennie even after he said no is why she should be the one to blame.
Similarly she tends to put herself in bad situations. Even though she is lonely she knows Lennie’s strength. When Candy tried to tell her that Curley got his hand caught in a machine. Lennie basically told on himself (80). Declaring that she only married Curley because her mother wouldn’t let her become a movie star (88). Finally after seeing Lennie’s pup dead and having him explain how it died (87). As a final point, putting herself in danger lead up to her death.
In other words others may say that she isn’t to blame because she’s a young teen. As the only woman in the novel, being a young lady she didn’t know what she was doing, some may say. Others may say its Curley’s fault for not giving her any attention. Perhaps it’s the men, who isolated and shut her out, faults. It’s plainly her own fault because she shouldn’t have been near Lennie and shouldn’t have provoked
him. Seeking attention, provoking Lennie, and putting herself in bad situations makes Curley’s wife responsible for her own death. Just because she was young doesn’t mean that she didn’t know what she was doing around them men. Lennie doesn’t realize how strong he is but she did. Throughout the novel she is given so many names but not a real one. Don’t ever put yourself in a dangerous situation, avoid them as much as possible. In the future use this question “Could what I’m doing bring harm to myself?”
They tell her to leave them and also to leave Lennie alone, because they know that Lennie cannot defend himself (80). When George and Candy find out what Lennie has done to Curly’s wife, they do not want to say anything about it. Candy tells George, that Curly will kill Lennie. But George will not let anyone hurt Lennie (95). Lennie trusts in George, and believes everything that he is telling him.
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.
One of Lennie's many traits is his forgetfulness. He easily forgets what he is supposed to do, but he somehow never forgets what he is told. An example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he has the mice in his pocket and when he went to pet them they bit his finger. “Lennie picked up the dead mouse and looked at with a sad face. When they bit him he pinched them, and by doing that he crushed their heads” (page 5) . This is important because he knew that if he squeezed their heads they would die, but since he is forgetful, he squeezed anyway. Another example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he grabbed Curley's hand and crushed it. “ Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. Lennie squeezed on until George came running in shouting ‘let go’. The next moment Curley was on the ground wailing while he held his crushed hand” (page 64). This event is important because Lennie had held on, not knowing what to do next, until George told him what to do. A final exampl...
Curley's wife, an accident that seals his own fate and destroys not only his dreams but George's and Candy's as well. In the beginning Lennie used to pet mice that his Aunt Clara used to give him, he would always end up killing them because he didn't know his own strength. Lennie never killed any pet or person purposely; he pets too roughly and kills them accidentally. An example of his rough tendencies is in the first chapter (page7) when Lennie wants to keep a dead mouse and George wouldn't let him Lennie says" Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George.
Lennie had a soft spot for petting animals and soft things. He is totally oblivious to the fact that he hurts almost every thing he touches. He had pet mice and ended up killing them and when he played with the 'pup' he ended up killing it too. His uncontrolled strength also caused him to kill Curley's wife. "Lennie's fingers fell to stroking her hair... he stroked harder... "Let go!" she cried... She struggled violently... and then she was still; for Lennie had broken her neck." (Page 91). With the death of Curley's wife, Lennie's innocence was taken. He had unwillingly killed. He had to pay the price, by losing his life.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
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.
Furthermore, Lennie is captivated by her alluring beauty and cannot take his eyes off her, constantly mentioning that "she's purty". George, recognising Lennie's intoxication, cautions him to keep his distance from this temptress. Moreover, Curley's wife understands that her magnetising beauty is the main reason control and her authority, and she fully deploys it to seduce the other ranch hands and make her husband jealous of her, which in turn gives her attention. However, she is completely isolated on the ranch and her husband has made it so that no one will talk to her without having a fistfight with the man.
Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talk to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though, to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with a need for interaction.
In the eyes of the other men, she is solely defined by her marriage with Curley and the status that it entails. This is distressing, because even though she has desires and wishes just like the entirety of the other characters on the ranch, nobody but Lennie ever learns of these because no-one on the ranch takes her seriously. Although Curley’s wife has connections to the boss of the ranch through her relationship with Curley and has an abundance of wealth, because she is a woman, she isn’t able to use this authority. Therefore, the factor of gender, rules out all of the preexisting power a character might have in the novel.
In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her.
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
Lennie is the target for many attacks. It's as if an invisible barrier has been put up, in which he can't be viewed as an equal. This barrier is built by both Lennie's low intelligence and large size. Lennie is strong in the arm, thick in the head; these two opposing factors do not go well together. It will cause much suffering to both him and others. Lennie's impetuous actions and mental deficiency causes him to lose his life, which in return, destroys the dreams of others and their desires.
“Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody.” (Steinbeck, 86). In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is an outcast compared to the men. Being female, she cannot do what the men can. This novel was based in the 1920’s, a time where women weren’t allowed to do certain, almost all, things. She was not allowed to talk to anyone because she was seen as a threat. Her treatment was caused by how men viewed her. This all affected her responsibility, the views of her as a woman, and her loneliness.
In a way, the opposite of George and Lennie’s connection is the relationship between Curley and his wife. Curley is a very arrogant, jealous, and controlling man, while his wife - who remains unnamed throughout the novel - is gorgeous and flirtatious. She is a trophy wife for Curley, who is otherwise much more wealthy than all the other characters in Of Mice and Men because he is the son of the owner of the farm, and he treats her like one. Their relationship obviously lacks the mutual respect, love, and proper attention that marriages need to survive.