In Spanish, Soledad means loneliness, which is only fitting for the book’s setting: Soledad California. Loneliness is the act of being sad and isolated. During the Great Depression people were alone and in financial travesty. By the 1930’s, the Ku Klux Klan was at its most powerful state, the Jim Crow laws were still in place, and lynchings were at their height. At the same time women had only gained the right to vote 10 years ago and voting laws made it almost as hard as possible for them to be able to vote. Minorities were even more lonely living in a state of fear and humiliation. The combination of loneliness and mistreatment made life as a minority miserable. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck depicts the minorities of the ranch as people with …show more content…
However she is above an African-American like Crooks. As Crooks is one of the few people she has power over she uses one of her most effective weapons the threat of lynching to scare him into silence. Though Curley's wife is not inherently evil the pressure of being one of the lowest members of society and not feeling fulfilled push her to use her power over whoever possible. Another way Curly’s wife attempts to use her power as a white woman is when most of the men go to the whorehouse. Candy, Crooks and Lennie are the only men left on the ranch Candy exclaims “They left all the weak ones here,” she said finally (77). Curley’s wife calls Candy, Crooks and Lennie weak for not going to the whorehouse. By calling the others weak she tries to make herself feel powerful. However the reality is she is the one who is weak, constantly exploiting her sexualty in an attempt to make herself feel above others. Even though she does this she is still living in isolation and will never complete her …show more content…
Crooks is a stable hand who had his back kicked by a horse which gave him a long term injury. Even though Crooks is a stable hand which is a more important job than others on the farm he is treated not nearly well as the other workers. Crooks is forced to sleep in the barn apart from the other men which receive the privilege of sleeping in the bunks. The one time Crooks was allowed in the bunkhouse was for christmas. On that christmas he was allowed to drink a gallon of whiskey with the other workers, the night quickly became violent as everyone became drunk and attacked him. Candy’s account of the events are truly sickening. He “relished” the memory of Crooks being beat up by the other ranch workers. Candy goes on to say that the boss beats Crooks when he is angry. As it turns out the boss brought Crooks to the bunkhouse for the night's “entertainment”. Considering the thirties which was prior to the civil right movement if Crooks responded to this abuse with any action he would likely be lynched. Crooks reveals he dreams of becoming equal to everyone else. He recalls where he grew up playing with white kids who he became friends with. He goes on to talk about how in Soledad that whites and colored people quickly became separate from each other and that his wonderful childhood was over. Crooks
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...
Crooks. loneliness is caused because he is black, at the time the story took place there was racism. Since Crooks is black, he wasn?t able to socialize with the white men. When Steinbeck describes all of Crooks? possessions, it shows that Crooks has been at the ranch a long time and that his possessions are all the he cares about.
This book depicts her as property of Curley’s because she is never given a name beside “Curley’s wife” or “Tart”. Curley’s wife was a woman who had aspiring dreams to be in movies and when that dream ended, she settled with marrying Curley. Curley’s wife shows abuse of power because since she is married to a person who is influential on the ranch, that makes her somewhat powerful, she uses her femininity and authority to manipulate others. She is unhappy with her marriage and is lonely so she goes out to the ranch to talk to the other guys, which gets Curley paranoid. When she is being forced to leave Crooks’s room, she retaliates by telling him, “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” When Candy tried to stand up for Crooks, she made sure they all knew their place, “Tell an’ be damned,” she cried, “Nobody’s listen to you an’ you know it. Nobody’s listen to you.” (79-80) There is a whole food chain in the ranch and Lennie, Candy and Crooks are at the bottom while Curley’s wife is at the top. On the other hand, she talks to Lennie because of his mental incapacity to know what’s wrong and right. He’s easier to allure in so she would have someone to talk to. Although Lennie wasn’t allowed to interact with
Many people would argue Curley’s wife is the weakest character in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Although, her interactions with the workers on the farm show how powerful she really is: “Well, you keep your place then, n*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (81). Considering her brash tone with Crooks, Curley’s wife knows her boundaries, as well as what she is capable of. The ranchers are aware of her connections with The Boss and Curley and are careful not to push her limits, because of the trouble they could get themselves into. Additionally, The Boss’ daughter-in-law can be highly convincing and very persuasive when she is eager to achieve something. For example: “Tell an’ be damned,” she cried. “Nobody’d
Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie could not reach their potential because of the discrimination against them. In Depression era, people discriminated African-American people by using derogatory terms, physically assaulting them and limiting their socialization. They discriminated women by calling names and making offensive assumptions. The mentally disabled people were target of brutal actions, stereotypes, and betrayals. Steinbeck was warning to people not to discriminate others by showing various conflicts and tragic ending that caused by discrimination.
Curley's wife, comparable to most other characters in the novel, is a type of character with little discrepancy, moreover being the only woman in novel. Curley’s wife is demonstrated by her position and part. This part is however, being a possession of Curley or a wife. She is heavily insulted and looked upon as inferior: George and Candy call her "jailbait" and "tart", which supports the fact that he has no voice and as a matter of fact, no name – simply being referred to as Curley’s wife. Due to her lack of power, she attempts to gain it by leeching off those with power. This leeching is portrayed as her seducing the other men on the ranch who have large presence like Slim: “Hi Slim” supports a casual and somewhat flirtatious approach to the other men. She seduces other by wearing far too much makeup and dressing like a "whore" with “red fingernails” and red shoes with ostrich feathers.
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
On the ranch, Crooks is also taken advantage of. He can try to have an opinion or stand up for himself but a white person’s point of view was more important during the time period this book takes place in. Curley’s wife demonstrates this in chapter 4; “ ‘Listen n***er’ she said ‘ you know what i can do if you open your trap’ “ Life on the ranch isn’t easy for either of them, but being a white women was much easier than being a black, handicapped man. When curly doesn’t try to speak up for himself, curley’s wife uses what little power she has against him. Because she knows that little bit of power she has is stronger than the power he has. Crooks knows That so once she threatens him he stops
In chapter four, she berates the men left behind from the work saying “They left all the weak ones here.” (77) In her conversation with the men, she reveals her strange dilemma – while she berates these ranch men, they are the only people she can converse with. She states how lonely she is, but subsequently trashes their dreams and self worth. “If you had two bits in the worl’, why you’d be in gettin’ two shots of corn with it and suckin’ the bottom of the glass. I know you guys.” (79) How much of a hypocrite is she? First she wants to have conversations with genuine people, but does not give the other party the respect required to carry a conversation. Still, in order feed her ego, she has to seek out those who have less power than she does. Curley's wife casts a cavalcade of catty cracks composing of cruel chastising. She cruelly cuts down Candy for his old age and meekness “A lousy ‘ol sheep” , Lennie for being "a dum dum," and most harshly, she threatens Crooks with a lynching: .”...you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” (81). If there was any inclination of sympathy for Curley's wife, these quotes all but destroy them. Curley’s wife is lonely, but vile filled dialogue such as this cause the men then distance themselves from her so they can not be vexed by her, therefore causing her even more loneliness. She does nothing to correct her own problems which
...as beaten, used as punching bag for the boss. His coworkers alienated him and thought less of him due to his hunchback and race. Curley’s wife was neglected by almost everyone, and was treated poorly by Curley. She wore reveling clothing, so many men called her names like “slut” or “flu flu.” She always felt lonely and distant from the rest. Lennie Small had a mental disability and couldn’t comprehend or remember things like an average person should been able to. He was left out from group activities, and treated like a child. All three have a few things in common. They were all discriminated against. They were all neglected from everyone else. Finally, each one was lonely in a way, which resulted in hostile behavior, desperation, confusion and depression. It was clear to me that Of Mice and Men demonstrate the struggles of minorities in the 1930’s and so forth.
Curley’s wife is a beautiful woman she’s the wife of the bosses son and is often lonely because she’s the only woman in the ranch, so she talks with the other guys, and is always looked at as “trouble”. She goes into the barn one day and sees Lennie in there, it's just the two of them, she never has no one to talk to so she begins to tell Lennie about her dream. On page 88 Curley’s Wife says, “ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me.
For instance, she often ventures out of the house when Curley’s away to find some company. However, her will to engage with the men only push them further away from her; “Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble” (77). Throughout the story, she had been repulsed by the men due to her tempting looks and actions. She is portrayed as a young woman who wanted to spread drama between the ranch workers, when truthfully she wanted a person to fulfill her emptiness of a companion.
Curley’s wife also degrades all men by saying all they do is drink, can’t save money, and go to cat houses. Lennie, Crooks, and Candy are all in Crooks’ shack. They’re all talking to each other about the ranch they dream of owning, when Curley’s wife appears. Curley’s wife yells at the trio in the shack,”Think I don’t know where they all went? Even Curley.
In today’s world, how are minorities looked at? Are they discriminated? Or are they just like everyone else? How do you view them? John Steinbeck portrays the indifference and discrimination between a group of men and the minorities among the rest.
Steinbeck, the author of the novella Of Mice and Men, believed that the acceptance of discrimination in a culture is toxic to the discriminated as well as to those who discriminate. Inequality and segregation was common at the time was written, the 1930s. African Americans, women, and the disabled were often discriminated against. At the time, it was common place for those who were oppressed to accept it and often, “got no rights.” This submission to their oppression allows others to feel they have power over the oppressed.