Curley's Wife Outcast Essay

4.8 million women from all around the world participated in a Women’s March. In my opinion this was a ludicrous and stupid act that just made women everywhere look bad. Sexism still exists in our society today and it’s awful. Although, some women really need to just buck up and get their hormones in check. Of Mice and Men has very clear connections to sexism using the experiences of Curley’s Wife.
Being an outcast means you’re left out and no one really cares about that much. Curley’s Wife was an outcast. In my opinion outcast’s in a lot of scenarios outcasts have a part in being an outcast. Whether it’s their personality or actions mixed with a disability or disadvantage they can’t control, but they still play a part in it. In Curley’s wife’s

case her personality makes her an outcast mixed with the fact she is a women, but that doesn’t change the huge part her personality play in her treatment. A place where this is seen in the book is when Curley’s wife says "Awright," she said contemptuously. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…" She was breathless with indignation. "—Sat'iday night. Ever'body out doin' som'pin'. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep—an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else" (Steinbeck,102-103). You can clearly see here that she has a very sour and not personable personality. Yes, her being an women is a disadvantage but acting like a jerk does not help her case at all. No one wants to hang out with someone who treats them like crap, so it makes complete sense she’s an outcast. Her personality works in many ways besides her being mean and rude in making her an outcast.
Don’t you just love to hang out with people who don’t respect you? You don’t right? Then why should the farm hands and everyone on the ranch hang out with her and not treat her like an outcast. This is seen when Curly has a conversation with Crooks, “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny. Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego—nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, "Yes, ma'am," and his voice was toneless (Steinbeck,120-121). In this quote it says that he didn’t want to show any emotion because he didn’t want her to like or dislike him. Right there is shows he has absolutely no respect for her and vice versa. This is another reason she is an outcast along with many other, but I’d like to hit on one more.
Some people want to be loved by anyone so bad that they suffocate those who have potential to love them.

Curley’s wife did this in a way she flirted with every guy and suffocated them in a way. Losing any possible chance she had for them. This is seen in a conversation had between Curley’s wife and Lennie, "I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself." She said darkly, "Maybe I will yet." And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. "I lived right in Salinas," she said. "Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an' I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that 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" (Steinbeck.34). This quote shows that she is using her past experience to play on Lennie’s compassion. In my opinion this is just another form of flirting. Which is her just wanting to be loved. All of these traits play a part in her being an

outcast.
Sexism is not as clearly seen in our community, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I think our community in particular is very good about this but there are still places it is seen like in PE. For every 2 shots a guy makes it’s the same amount of points as 1 shot a guy makes. I kind of understand why the PE teacher does this since girls get passed the ball less, but on the other hand give us a chance to prove ourselves. These little things lead to sexism in our country.
Women in our country take every little thing way too seriously.

I’m not saying sexism doesn’t exist but women get a little too over emotional about some issues. This just makes the problem 10x worse no matter how much people are trying to make it better. I see this the most in politics. Women were so mad when Trump was elected because of some sexist comments that he made. I am not condemning the comments he made, but the media also took everything he said and blew it up. Making every single thing he said sound worse. Also they thought that Hilary not getting elected was an act of sexism when really if was just that Hilary did some awful things to our country and people just didn’t trust her. Now, this is my opinion and I’m sure that others have a different outlook. Although, no one can say that the Women’s March that occurred didn’t have some uncalled for and raunchy things. Maybe if they just let him do his job they would see he is really doing some great things for our country. Every country has their own form and way that sexism happens so let’s look a little at the world in a large

scheme.
Each country has sexism some places it is just a lot more evident. For instance, in Syria. The women there are treated like dirt. Many of them are actually kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. In case you aren’t sure what that means, it means that the women are taken from their homes and sold to men as well a sex toy. This also happens in the city of Amsterdam. It’s a little different here though. The women sell themselves to make a quick buck. They will stand in windows basically naked. This all happens in the Red Light District; it’s called this because the women in the windows have a red light in their window. If the red light is off they are “busy” if it’s on they are for sale. The worst part is this is all legal in Amsterdam. All of these little issues join together and build on each other to create the problem of sexism everywhere.
Basically I want you to remember that with the book and sexism they go hand in hand. Curley’s wife really just wants be loved, but she is an outcast mostly because of her personality and her actions. Women are treated like Curley’s wife everywhere, whether it is their doing or not. Also not all the issues women think are sexist and fight for need to have so much noise made about them. Of Mice and Men has clear connections to our modern world today’s and our tendency of sexism. Have you ever felt sexism? If so what did you do about it? Anything? If you did do something about it, did it need to be done?