Throughout time, male dominance has been found in many cultures in generation after generation. Sexism existed with that, and was accepted as normal in society. Although women have more equality today, back in 1939 sexism was common in the United States, especially in the South. Women’s rights were few during this time period, which is brought up in Jon Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. In that novel, sexism hurts Curley’s wife physically and emotionally. The three most obvious acts of sexism seen in the novel are that Curley’s wife was not given a first name by the author, she was labeled a “tart”, and the she was abused by Curley. To start off, Curley's wife is only called “Curley’s wife” and is not called an actual name throughout the book. Although she has a main role in the novel, her character is thought of as weak because of the author’s choice. The author does this to show that she is only a possession of Curley, nothing more. In …show more content…
For example, she is countlessly called a “tart” and “jailbait” by some of the ranch workers. The workers call her offensive names because she flaunted her legs, pushed her shoulders back and pushed out her chest in front of the workers (Steinbeck 31). These actions could make it seem like she is interested in the other men and is being unloyal to Curley. Curley’s wife is alone often since she lives on a ranch with all men and no friends. In the text, when Curley’s wife goes into Crook’s room to talk the guys, she says, “Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in awhile? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” ( Steinbeck 77). This quotation is important because it shows that Curley’s wife is just a lonely girl and wants someone to talk to her and give her attention. That ultimately caused her death, because she sought attention from Lenny who ultimately killed her accidentally. (Steinbeck
All through the book Curley’s Wife is very “open” to everyone she meets. The reason for this can be interpreted by her and Curley’s “so-called” marriage. The relationship between Curley’s Wife and Curley seems to be somewhat unstable as he is always asking “Any you guys seen my wife?” (pg. ). This also shows how protective Curley seems to be as he is always checking up on where his wife is. Curley’s insecurity seems to cage in his wife from having any kind of a friendship with any other men. In turn, the wife gets so sick of being isolated like this and relieves her loneliness by conducting secret conversations with many other men on the ranch. As a result many of the ranch hands see her as a tramp but it can be viewed that all she really wants is a person to talk to.
Impressions of Curely's Wife in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck sees Curleys wife as 'nice girl' and not a 'floozy' however in the novel 'Of Mice and Men', Steinbeck introduces the character of Curley's wife; she could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel. In the novel Curley's wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch, the way she looks and acts lead others on the ranch to see her as a 'tart'. Additionally Curley might be the reason of Curley's wife behavior; Curley's wife is clearly lonely in the novel because Curley doesn't pay much attention to her. The lack of attention from Curley forces her to seek it elsewhere.
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.
Curley’s Wife in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is used cleverly by Steinbeck to create sympathy among the reader, but also to represent the position of women in 1930s America. Through an intelligently designed pattern of events in the book, we feel varying amounts of sympathy for Curley’s Wife and thus unconsciously acquire information regarding the issues women had to face in the 1930s. In this essay I will evaluate the extent to which Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife as a sympathetic character and its relation to 1930s America. We are first introduced to Curley’s Wife through a description of her from Candy, and straight away, that in itself demonstrates her lack of individuality because she can’t speak for herself or even introduce herself just like the majority of women in the 1930s. Also, the fact that Curley’s Wife does not have her own name and is simply a possession of Curley exemplifies the concept that women in the 1930s were treated as belongings of men and were stripped of their individuality, highlighting the social hierarchy in those times.
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...
Her resistive attitude was made apparent when she was first introduced in the novella as Curley’s wife. In order to emphasise Curley’s wife’s inadequacy, Steinbeck doesn’t give her a name. As a victim of this lack of authority, she finds someone to bully and is presented as a powerful and intimidating person. Alongside many other Americans of the time, Curley's wife also had an American dream. Fear prevented her trying, as she knew if she failed, she would be left with nothing. Candy, a swamper, introduced her. Initially, she was mentioned in rumours which subtly hints at the idea that she had developed a bad reputation over time, which gives the reader opinions and biased views on Curley's wife even before she enters. Curley’s wife had the right to articulate her opinion, in fact she had more rights than Eva Smith, and despite the fact her husband was the boss, she still found that she was unable to speak. Presumably, the reason for this being the absence of an involved father figure. In fact the only man she could get close to ‘promised’ her to put her in the
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.
...nd a tease throughout the novella which shows that the men only view her as a sexual being. The workers assume that everything she does is to cause trouble and she is held responsible for her own murder as well as the situation forcing George to kill Lennie. It is apparent that Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a medium to bring to light the excessive sexism women faced during the Great Depression.
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...
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
Steinbeck describes Curley's Wife as a very friendly young women. For example, when Steinbeck describes her when she says, “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” (31). When reading this, one can learn that Curley’s Wife is a very friendly women who is just looking for someone to talk to. She is forced to live on the farm and needs to find something to do, or someone to talk to while she is stuck there.
Curley’s wife is also portrayed as a victim because she’s stuck with Curley. Curley’s wife is about 17 maybe 20 and she’s having a sad life dealing with Curley. Steinbeck writes “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” (89). Steinbeck shows that Curley’s wife doesn’t even like him. This what shows how Curley’s wife is nothing but a victim because she does things that she doesn’t want to do. If she was a free woman and does whatever she wants, then she would be a better person to herself.
Curley’s wife has only been married to Curley for two weeks, but still the men on the ranch already have many negative opinions on her. These opinions and judgements take away from her authority and make her powerless on the ranch. While arguing with Curley about his wife Carlson says, “Whyn’t you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs. You let her hang around bunkhouses and pretty soon you’re gonna have som’pin on your hands and you won’t be able to do nothing about it” (Steinbeck 62). The way Carlson speaks of Curley’s wife makes her sound like she is a possession, not a human being. This ties back into her not even having a name, but simply being defined by her relationship with Curley. Instead of confronting Curley’s wife about her behaviour, they consult with Curley instead and tell him that he needs to reign his wife in because she is too distracting and unpredictable. They treat her with no respect and it takes away from all of the authority that she should have over them because of her wealth and connection to Curley.
Curley’s wife is a difficult character to understand. Steinbeck hasn’t named her; this could be for a number of reasons. He may have wanted her to be seen as lonely therefore not naming her shows no one gets close enough to her to call her by her first name. He may have done it to show the other characters only see her as the wife of Curley rather than an individual. He may also have done it to show the male attitudes towards females. Curley’s wife also helps to provoke mixed emotions in the reader. We often feel sorry for her such as when she talks of her loneliness, but on other occasions the reader can find her cold hearted. This is seen when she is racist towards the other characters.
In the modern error which is when the book Of Mice and Men was wrote women were treated like animals, heck they were treated even worse. Women had no rights, which is what John Steinbeck showed in the book. Women of thus error would not even allowed to vote. They were treated like slave. Steinbeck showed this in the book when Curley's wife was not given a name we just knew her as Curley's wife. Curley was the bosses son. They owned a farm and had many people working for them. Curley acted like he did not like his wife and treated her poorly, just like all women in the modern error. Women had no rights at all they were pushed and shoved around by anyone. Women were lonely, which is just what Curley's wife had told Lenny in the book Of Mice and Men. She told Lenny "I never get to talk to nobody. I get