In the 19th and 20th century people lived in and supported an anti-feminist society, where the men were superior to the women; treating them horribly, making them feel unimportant. The authors Kate Chopin and John Steinbeck represent this idea through their most recognized works: “Desiree’s Baby” and Of Mice and Men, where women were inferior to men. The female characters Desiree from “Desiree’s Baby” and Curley’s wife from Of Mice and Men, both are not highly valued by their own husbands and society, but while Curley’s wife puts up with her husband’s and society’s wrong doings, Desiree does not.
Desiree, the protagonist in the short story “Desiree’s Baby” is a young women who faces a “disgrace” to man kind as her husband, Armand, claimed
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it to be when she recently gave birth and finds out that her baby is dark skinned. Feeling alone and ignored when saying the truth Desiree says, “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,” seizing his wrist. “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” (2). Desiree is pleading with her husband Armand to counter and deny his claim that she has somehow tainted his name through her unknown ancestry. Armand just doesn’t seem to believe Desiree and blames her for the baby’s skin being dark complexed. Then shortly after the narrator states, “He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” (3). The cruelty that Armand ascribes to God is an ironic reflection of his own behavior toward Desiree making her feel lonely and unloved. Armand regards his repudiation of his wife as a fitting protestation of the cosmic unfairness of events. At last, Chopin finally paints the whole picture at the end, revealing Armand was all at fault for the baby being dark skinned. All his false accusations towards Desiree made her feel inferior, causing her own suicide along with killing his son. Curley’s wife is the only female character in the novel, Of Mice and Men, who feels lonely and so desperately seeks attention from others.
Due to the fact that she’s involved in a loveless marriage, she questions, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (86), while attempting to talk to Lennie, when he then obliviously rejects her without his intention. Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck generally depicts Curley’s wife as a troublemaker who brings ruin on the men and drives them mad. Curley’s wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to be a prime example of this destructive tendency. An attractive woman whom Candy says "has the eye" and George calls "jail-bait," Curley's wife is seductive, cruel, and intimidating. George expresses his assessment of her and tells Lennie, "I seen 'em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be,” (30). Although her purpose is rather simple in the book’s opening pages—she is the “tramp,” “tart,” and “bitch” that threatens to destroy male happiness—her appearances later in the novel when she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the stable, she admits to feeling a kind of shameless dissatisfaction with her life. Her vulnerability when she admits to Lennie her dream of becoming an actress makes her utterly human and much more interesting than the stereotypical dumbfounded brat. Curley’s wife was portrayed as someone who is no good and just seemed …show more content…
to cause trouble everywhere she went, but all she ever really desired was someone to solemnly speak to. Desiree reveals that she is a gentle and loving young woman who feels no shame because she was a foundling abandoned by the road when a toddler and adopted by the Valmondes.
When grown into young womanhood she is as beautiful and charming as she has always been. In addition, she loves easily and without judgementalism. At the end of the short story, Chopin describes a scenery where Desiree is bound to drown her baby and herself. This portrays Desiree as courageous due to the fact that she wouldn’t put up with society’s criticism just because of her child’s complexion. Meanwhile Curley’s wife is lonely. She exploits her power as the Boss' son's wife to threaten others and seeks company from the other ranch men by constantly coming to the bunk house under the pretense of looking for Curley when ironically, she wants to get away from him. Family wise, Curley’s wife had a bad relationship with her mother at such a young age, resulting in her becoming homeless after she leaves the home of her mother. She then meets Curley and marries him, to her convenience of shelter and food making her dependent and putting up with the men in the novel discriminating her just because of her
gender. Although these were two different scenarios, they both relate because Desiree and Curley’s wife both lived in an era where a misogynist society was supported. Men were always to be superior to women. Thankfully, over the years there’s been outstanding women who had the courage to stand up and say that women deserved to be treated equally, no matter the gender.
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...
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.
How does the reader’s perception of Curley’s Wife change through the book? In Of Mice and Men the reader’s opinion of Curley’s Wife changes throughout the book, in the beginning of the book the reader looks at her as trouble. Near the end the reader starts to feel sympathetic towards her. Although all the characters look at her as a “tramp”, despise, and avoid her, the reader sees her differently. The reader sees how miserable she is, and how many other things she has to put up with everyday. She might not be the nicest person out there, but she is still a person with feelings. The reader’s feelings drastically change from the beginning of the book to the end. She is perceived negatively repeatedly throughout the book, by all the characters at many different times. She is known as the “tramp” at the ranch, the reader would obviously think negatively of Curley’s Wife when all the characters are talking trash about her. In chapter 2 George said to Lennie “I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.” After reading this how could the reader see Curley’s Wife in any other way. As the reader I also despised Curley’s Wife, I didn’t want her to get close to Lennie or George because I knew she would try and get them in trouble or something bad would happen with her being there. This quote specifies how almost every man felt on this ranch, and this was very early on in the book, George had not even had a decent conversation with her and he was already talking about her in this way. This was not only in the beginning of the book; at the scene of her death Candy was shouting “you got damn tramp” at her dead body. This shows even when she is dead, how little everyone cared about her. The r...
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 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.
In 'Desiree?s Baby,' Chopin illustrates her idea of the relationship between men and women by portraying Desiree as vulnerable and easily affected, whereas Armand is presented as superior and oppressive. Throughout ?Desiree?s Baby,? Kate Chopin investigates the concept of Armand's immense power over Desiree. At first, Desiree tries to conform to the traditional female role by striving to be an obedient wife. Later in the story, this conformity changes after Desiree gives birth to her part-black son.
Korb, Rena. "Critical Essay on 'Désirée's Baby'." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
In “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin writes about the life of a young lady and her new family. In this short story, the fond couple lived in Louisiana before the American Civil War. Chopin illustrates the romantic atmosphere between Armand and Desiree. Chopin also describes the emotion of the parents for their new born. When the baby was born, Armand’s heart had softened on behalf of others. One afternoon, Desiree and the baby were relaxing in a room with a young boy fanning them with peacock feathers. As they were relaxing, Desiree had sniffed a threatening scent. Desiree desired Armand’s assistance as she felt faint from the odor that she could not comprehend. Armand had denied the request his wife sent. Therefore, he cried out that she nor the baby were white. Thus, Desiree took the baby and herself and walked into the bayou and they were never seen again. In this short story, Chopin illustrates the psychological abuse Desiree faces from her husband.
“Tell me what it means!” she cried despairingly.” It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin, p. 192). Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" is a well-known short story. “In her life, Kate Chopin actively searched for female spiritual emancipation and expressed it in her writing”(Deter, 2000). Throughout the story, Kate Chopin uses symbolism to convey her themes of racial predisposition, unequal gender roles, and social ladder in a society. The characters and the setting in this short story help provide the readers with more understanding of how patriarchal our society is at that time.
In her story, Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin underlined the contrast between lust and love, exploring the problem of a man’s pride that exceeded the love he has for his wife. Armand, the main character of the story, is a slave owner who lived in Louisiana during the era of slavery. He married an adopted young woman, Desiree, and together they have a son who eventually became an obstacle in the way of his father’s happiness, thus removing out the true character of Armand. Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin is a love story, love that ultimately proved to be a superficial love, a story that shed light on the ugly relationships between people. “Lust is temporary, romance can be nice,
In the story, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, the author uses the elements of the short story to rely her points of view about society. These elements help to enhance the story’s conflict by creating tension and excitement for the reader. There are 5 major parts consist of the character, setting, plot, conflict, and them.
A case in point of a mood given from the short story of Desiree’s Baby, is to be situated disheartened.
“Desiree’s Baby “is a beautifully tragic work that shows how hard it was for a woman who was even suspected of being African,
Desiree’s Baby” interpreted the ways of the nineteenth century where sexist roles and economic changes were presented in society. Armand’s position as a rich, white male permitted him to use complete control over his possession, who was this poor, black woman. In spite of that, Armand Aubigny was a guy that fell in love and married her. So that she would have a last name, Désirée, although white, was treated as a possession. Since Désirée was viewed as a woman and a possession, it showcased Armand’s power of others on the one and only difference of the color of his
“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story that was written by Kate Chopin. It is about a woman that was found by the side of the road as a baby by a wealthy French family. The family thought of it as a gift from God because they were not able to have children of their own. One day when Desiree grew up, her neighbor Armand Aubigny sees her outside by a gate and immediately falls in love with her, despite the protests from her wealthy family. Desiree and Armand are passionate about their love and immediately get married and have a child.