An agreement made between two to share each other until the end of time. Marriage is this agreement, but also a union between two people. A union that is meant to be shared equally; however, in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men this is not the case. The main marriage, in the novel, is between Curley and his wife. The pair displays a marriage of control rather than a union. This is seen as a dominated and submissive relationship between the married couple. This creates a negative outlook on the idea of marriage in the 1930s to today’s standards. The ceremonies have not changed over time; however, the idea of having a control relationship has changed to a union or partnership relationship. The idea of being an object in a marriage has also changed. …show more content…
Despite bearing minor similarities, the differences in the relationship of marriage from the 1930s to current society is significant. The marriage ceremony has not changed with the time. In the 1930s, marriage was a union of two people and this is the same in today’s society. In the 1930s, the families of the two lovers would gather around in honor of their union. Today’s same concept is happening. The family gathers and celebrate the marriage by bringing gifts to the lovers. In current society, families gather around the soon to be a married couple: “we are here together for you”(Michael). The speaker in the video is talking about how their friends and family are here to support them throughout this marriage. The 1930s had the same love and support from family; however, the women were viewed as becoming a baby maker or homemaker. Steinbeck express this idea by writing “Why’n’t you tell her to stay in the hell home where she belongs?”(pg.90). Men were viewed as the breadwinners. The next wedding tradition is the white wedding dress. Wedding dresses were already white from the 1800s due to the Victoria Age. According to Marlise Schoeny, a textile expert stated: “Wedding dress styles of the early twentieth century continued to follow fashionable dress silhouettes, including the short flapper dress popular in the 1920s, and the bias cut fashions of the early 1930s”(Schoeny). There is a new trend of wedding dresses happening today. This trend focus on the renting of wedding dresses instead of buying: “On the off chance that you have little spending plan, however would prefer not to surrender the chance to wear a wonderful dress with the outline you've generally longed for and made by specialists, the best thing is to choose to rent it”(New). This is similar to the 1930s where they would pass down the dresses from one generation to the next. Similarity these dresses are slowly making a trend back to the wedding scene. These two wedding traditions have stayed with the changing of the time period, and they are the only ones that are still around. Aside from one similarity, there is a major difference in the relationship marriage: the head of the household.
In the 1930s, men were viewed as the head of the house. They had control of the land and their wives. The farm workers explain how Curley’s wife did not deserve to be on the farm: “Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specifically like her”(Steinbeck pg. 78). This indicates the role women had. They were not allowed to have shared ownership of the land their husbands’ own. When Curley’s wife was talking to Lennie she explained that “‘You can talk to people, but i can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad”(Steinbeck pg.87). This demonstrates Curley control as the head of the household. This is because of the wording of I can’t. By using this wording Steinbeck explains to the reader on how Curley’s wife had no control. According to Hodder, “The common law doctrine of coverture subsumed a wife's legal identity into her husband's”(Hodder). With the help of this statement Steinbeck’s reasoning to write Curley's wife as a prop to be used by the men in the story is …show more content…
supported. This outdated idea is the reason why there is no need for a head of the household.
In the current society, those who are married are both viewed as the head of the household: a shared partnership. This is because of the shared responsibility they have. According to Hodder, “Sociologists agree that women have driven the shift from the marriage-centric mores”(Hodder). According to the Women’s Bureau in the 1920s 21 percent of women worked outside of the home and compare to today there is 49 percent working outside the home(Our). Women are able to go into the work field to provide for their families without the judgment of others, like in the 1930s. By allowing women to enter the work field, they are able to share the responsibilities of the household. Thus for ending the idea of having a head of
household. The last difference is how the names of the husband and wife have changed. In the 1930s, women were referred to as Mrs. their husband’s first and last name. This dehumanizes the woman as her own name was not worthy enough to state who she was. Rather her husband was viewed as a social power. Steinbeck demonstrates this by addressing the wife as Curley’s wife or wife and not giving her a name: “Wife lives over in the boss’s house”(27). Another item is when the woman would get married her last name would change to the husbands. Comparably, today’s society has changed its take on the names of a married couple. One change is now women have the option to keep their last name if they so please to. This is in cases of lawyers, doctors, famous author and a famous actor. An example of this is Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper, did not change her last name when she got married. She was married a few years before her first book was published. This is because they build their business using their last name. To change their last name to their husband they could lose more than the last name. On the topic of last names, men now have the option of changing their last names to their wife’s. The last change is women as not refer to as Mrs. husband’s first name and their shared last name. Marriage is meant to be a union of two lovers. The 1930s viewed marriage as not a union, but as a control. Current society views it as a union. Both view the ceremony in the same manner. Seeing how marriage has changed in a short period of time allows humans to study the social effects. The effects on how there is no head of the house and how women are not their husband’s property in the United States. As the United States continues to evolve, so will marriage. In the next hundreds of years, students will compare current society to their society. Marriage will forever stay apart of the human culture; however, the meaning of marriage will change.
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...
Curley's Wife in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. ‘Of Mice and Men’ was originally a novel by John Steinback which was written in 1937. It was also made into a film in 1939, and then later. in 1992. It is a tale of the friendship between two men, George and Lennie, who has travelled to work on a ranch together and how their friendship is put to the test.
Life is full of choices: where to go to school, where to live, who to marry, and what jobs to apply for, and most of the time each of us control what happens with these choices. What if those choices brought someone to the point of being trapped and feeling helpless? In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the wife of Curley is in just that spot. She made the choice to marry a tyrant of a man and is now forced to live with the consequences of her decisions. Curley’s Wife is misunderstood due to the workers’ assumptions, Curley’s relationship with her, and her unclear background.
Have you noticed that many parents tell their children to dream big and strive to meet their goals? When you are a girl, however, your big dreams become harder to reach, especially in the work field. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the main characters named Lennie and George work on a ranch for Curley's family. When Curley's wife strikes up a conversation with Lennie, she tells him,"'...I met a guy, an' he was in pitchers...he says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon's he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it...i never got the letter...'" (Steinbeck 88). Curley's wife's ideal career was to become a movie star. She believed she could have been famous for her spectacular acting skills because a man told her that he could have made her into a star, but he never showed up after their first encounter. At the time, if women did not have an occupation, it was very difficult to make a living and survive without marrying a man, thus causing Curley’s wife to marry Curley. However, Curley’s wife regrets the marriage as she says, “‘ I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself…’” (88). Curley’s wife feels that she had the potential to reach her dreams, but solely relying on the man’s return to ignite her career did not benefit her in any way.
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...
In this essay I am going to examine whether Curley's wife is a tart or
Curley's wife is seen as a cheap possession, a toy that belongs to Curley. A possession that he gets to control. His lack of love, respect and attention results to her death in the end. By all the men she’s seen as a tramp, they think that she’s out cause trouble. But the truth is she’s desperately lonely. She just wants someone to talk to. She’s missed out on a wonderful life that could have been hers, and that hurts her.
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, after Lennie’s death, there are many people to blame, but Curley and Curley’s Wife are to blame more than anyone else and there are strong reasons as to why.
In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, published in 1937, many characters are depicted as having a turbulent and continuously changing relationship with power. In the case of Curley’s wife, her power, or lack thereof, derives from her status of being the only woman on the ranch during a time when females were viewed as being inferior and subordinate to men. In some instances, Curley’s wife uses her femininity to her advantage to flirt with the various men on the ranch and obtain information from them. She is aware of her beauty and the control over men this gives her and she realizes that a seductive attitude can be used to manipulate others. Although, ultimately, being a woman is her downfall. The men on the ranch ridicule her and dismiss
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the feminist lens is represented in many different ways throughout the novel, including actions and comments different characters make. Most of these events are surrounded by the character Curley’s Wife. Curley’s wife is a character who is known for her not being trusted by any of the workers on the ranch, and for fooling around with other men besides her husband, Curley. For instance, when Curley’s Wife is talking to another character, Slim. “…’Hi Slim,’ she said. Slim’s voice came through the door. ‘Hi, good-looking.”(Steinbeck, 31) Curley’s Wife is not allowed to flirt or even communicate with other men at the ranch, but she likes to break the rules and have a conversation with other people because she feels that she has never had any freedom since she married Curley. Curley’s Wife is mistreated at the ranch because everyone is afraid to trust and contact her.
In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her.
To begin, one character that faced discrimination in Of Mice And Men is Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife, the wife of Curly who is the son of the owner of the farm, is the only woman on the farm. She is constantly called names by the men on the farm because of the way she acts around them and is always mistreated and misjudged by them. Candy, an old man that works on the farm says, “‘Purty...but-...she got the eye. Well, I think Curley’s married...a tart’” (Steinbeck 28). This quote shows that Curley’s wife is a disloyal wife because men in the farm keep calling her a tart and that she gives them the eye. This quote also shows how Curley’s wife is property because they don’t call by her real name but only label her as “Curley’s wife.” It highlights
The way Curley’s wife was treated changed the responsibility she had, the views of her, and being alone all the time. In life, women and those who are different aren’t seen as equal. They all have harder lives than the typical man does. Unfortunately, one of the characters who were different was outnumbered and was seen on a lower