How Is Curley's Wife Presented In Of Mice And Men

How Curley’s wife is portrayed in Of Mice and Men.

John Stienback presents Curley’s wife at the start of the novel as an irrelevant character, while her husband is quite an important character. However as the story goes on we start to see the importance of her character as everything relevant that happens on the ranch is due to her presence. She is symbolic of Eve- the female character who, in the Biblical story, brings sin and death to the world, but she is also there to symbolize women everywhere who are dominated in male-centered societies.

Curley’s wife is described as a “Mean and seductive temptress” on a website, while in the book there is the constant description of her as a “tart”, a “bitch” and a “jailbait”. Most of the time she

is mentioned by the way she moves around the men; her tendency to flirt with everyone and the fact that she always seeks attention, even though she is a married woman, she also comes across as mean, racist and bitter to some of the workers at the ranch (Crooks and Candy) because she knows she isn't liked by them due to this she could be defined as a villain. However, it could be de decided that she is also a victim seeing how that at the end of the novel, we see her 'true self': a lonely but kind and lovely person who unfortunately got their dreams crushed. We then know that she is only flirtatious and nasty to the men is because she only wants a bond with someone because Curley has told her not to; also her racist remarks to Crooks were no uncommon at that time. Stienback describes her as a troublemaker, a pest and useless.
All through the novel she is referred to "Curley's Wife" she never has her own identity this may be because she is that low of a status to every man at the ranch.

Likewise the ranch-hands only recognise her on her looks and gender instead of an actual person, only when she is dead do the men finally see her as a person. Additionally she is simply an object or a decoration of Curley's. On the other hand, she has her own power- she can make life a living hell to the ranch hands and she can crush George's and Lennie's dream (which she does in the end). In the book she is seen as a "whore" who wears flattering dresses, a lot of makeup and high heels, as well as this the readers form a biased opinion on her as she is introduced in the story by rumours, she is also Curley's property. Regrettably, Curley's Wife is killed by her own desire for human contact because she is undervalued by everyone around her.

To get a more detailed look at the way Curley's Wife is portrayed I researched about how all women were treated in the 1930's. They weren't equal and had fewer rights then men, they were paid less and most of them were only ever allowed to do domestic chores. Women soon realised how submitted they were to men, so they began creating ideas on how they could improve their lives and gain more independence. Curley's Wife is the "average women" at the time, she wants to depend less on her husband; she feels secluded and miserable, and is an isolated character as she is the only female

on the ranch.

All through the novel she is refered to "Curley's Wife" she never has her own identity. Likewise the ranch-hands only recognise her on her looks and gender instead of an actual person, only when she is dead do the men finally see her as a person. Additionally she is simply an object or a decoration of Curley's. On the other hand she has her own power- she can make life a living hell to the ranch hands and she can crush George's and Lennie's dream (which she does in the end).
In the book she is seen as a "whore" who wears flattering dresses, a lot of makeup and high heels, as well as this the readers form a biased opinion on her as she is introduced in the story by rumors, she is also Curley's property.