Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Essay

Many women in the 20th century faced hardships due to being a women. They were mainly housewives who took care of the children, cooked for the family, and cleaned the house while also waiting for their husband to come home. John Steinbeck reveals these hardships through one of the two female characters in the novel “Of Mice and Men”. Curley’s wife, the main female in the plot, plays an important role in defining the roles women played during the time of the 20th century by giving a vivid description of her while also showing reasons why she was a victim of the world and why she was misunderstood, lonely and accused of being a predator to the men on the farm.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck introduces the main female character

in the second chapter to signify her importance. When she is introduced Steinbeck described her as being poison to George and Lennie while also identifying her as being very beautiful and not afraid to show her beauty to the rest of the men on the ranch (Steinbeck 32). As the novel continues Stenbeck begins to show the reader her personality. He shows her personality as being defiant and bold for a woman during her time but also as someone who cares for other. Her defiance and boldness is shown throughout the novel but more dominantly shown when she is in Crooks’s with Crooks and Lennie. When Crooks is forcefully trying to get Curley’ wife to leave a “colored man’s room” she says “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” (Steinbeck 80) to signify her personality as being defiant to women of wouldn’t pose threat to men. Even though she has been shown as being defiant and bold, she also cares for other men who are on the ranch. She specifically feels pity for Lennie because her husband, Curley, got into a fight with him and Lennie accidentally kills one of the pups he was trying to raise. In the scene where Lennie kills the pup she comforts him by saying “ Don’t worry none. He was jus’ a mutt. You can get another one easily…”( Steinbeck 87). In addition to have an interesting personality, Steinbeck gives her a very unique background. Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as being ambitious in her youth because she was trying to become a very famous actress in a show but her mother didn’t allow a fifteen year old to go along with men for the show. Steinbeck also introduces another aspect of her life by showing the reader and Lennie that she never loved Curley (Steinbeck 87-89). Her description, her personality, and her background makes her one of the more interesting and unique character in this novel.
In addition to introducing Curley's wife’s description, personality, and background, Steinbeck also shows the reader why she was a victim of the world.

Curley’s wife is a victim of the world because she never achieved her dream due to her mother’s wishes of her being safe and an actor who never sent a letter to create an actress out of Curley’s wife. These two stories are shown to be the demotivating factors in her life. They show hopelessness for women in the 20th century and how women were never regarded as able to make their own decisions. She is a victim of the world because no one let her achieve her dream of becoming rich and famous like she wanted to but she rather became a housewife for a ranch owner’s

son.
While showing the reader Curley's wife description, personality, background, and reason to why she was a victim to the world, Steinbeck also gives reason to why she was one of the most misunderstood and lonely character in the book.

Steinbeck portrays her as being misunderstood because she wants someone to talk but Curley won’t let her talk to any of the other men on the ranch and George won’t let Lennie talk to her. This is evident when she says “ “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad…””( Steinbeck 87). She then goes on to ask Lennie how he would feel if he couldn’t talk to anyone but Lennie refuses to talk to her because he doesn’t want to get into trouble and jeopardize his chance at tending to the rabbits on the farm. Even though Lennie refused to talk to her, he eventually succumbs to her as she begins to tell her life story. Lennie was one of the only characters who understood Curley’s wife because he was someone who didn’t know how to react to someone like Curley’s wife and he was also the most innocent and child-like characters in the novel. Steinbeck also portrays Curley’s wife as being a predator to other men because she never loved Curley and Curley never appreciated her. This is evident throughout the novel because she was always talking to other men who were not her husband. The most notable of these experiences was the first time she met George and Lennie. Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife

with the following quote “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward…” (Steinbeck 31). This shows how her first impression on George and Lennie was that she was a tart who the ranch workers shouldn’t be hanging around.
Curley’s wife is one of the most intriguing characters in the novel “ Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck because she has many aspects of her life that make her a very well rounded character. He shows Curley’s wife’s description, personality, and background to show the reader why she was treated the way she was. He shows her reasons of why she was a victim of the world and why she was known to be misunderstood, lonely, and a predator to the men in the ranch. To summarize, John Steinbeck explains the lives of 20th century through Curley’s wife in his novel “ Of Mice and Men”.