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Of mice and men stereotype
Explore curley's wife character in of mice and men
Explore curley's wife character in of mice and men
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In the novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates a character which is different from the rest of them, on which the reader might have a strong opinion about, differing from beginning to end. Curley´s wife switches from being classified as an antagonist of the novel, to just a fragile women with a hopeless dream. The first impression the reader get´s of Curley´s wife is definitely not a good one. She walks into the scene as if she owned the place, like a person who is confident of herself and well aware of their sexual appeal. The reader can identify that she is not afraid to use her sexual appeal as a weapon to her advantage. “Nobody can blame a person for looking.” She tells to Lennie as soon as she feels his look posed on her body. This is the first words she utters in her first encounter with Lennie. With judgment the reader can infer that she is a person fool of herself and self-centered. These thoughts later get confirmed when the workers call her a “tart”. The reader can now see how the workers behave around her and how they react to the thought of her. It´s not hard to quickly judge her and, like the workers, classify her as a tart and associated her with trouble. The fact that Curley´s wife has no name might have caught the reader’s attention which can lead the reader to think of her as an object not a live human being. The lack of a name takes away her individuality and her identity. This might make it harder for the reader from sympathizing with her. In this moment the reader´s judgment on Curly´s wife is definitely not a good one and it won´t get any better in chapter four. When all the workers go into town, she is left behind with Lennie, Candy and Crooks, but there is a specific reason. “They left the weak on... ... middle of paper ... ...The reader, and Lennie , were the only people that know the person she really was. In front of the readers eyes she died as a good person, but in the migrant workers eyes she died as a “tart”, which is a complete shame because if they only gave themselves the opportunity to sit down and talk to her, they would have a complete different opinion about her. All she needed was a friend and she could never have one because of Curly. She dies completely alone, and no one at the ranch feels sorry for her, not even her own husband, but there is one person that does. The reader. This is completely contradictory because the reader should feel relief that she is dead, her death would mean no more trouble for George and Lennie, but she did not deserve to pass the way. The reader regrets hating her all along because in the end she was extraordinary. Number of Words: 1,025
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a book that can be analyzed and broken down into a vast majority of themes. One of the predominant themes found in this book is loneliness. Many characters in this book are affected by loneliness and they all demonstrate it in one way or another throughout the book. Examples of these characters are Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy.
She flirts with the other characters on the ranch but they pay her no attention either. This essay will go on to look at the character of Curley's wife and how characters perceive her. When first introduced to Curley's wife in the novel she comes into the bunkhouse, when both Lennie and George are in there. She is apparently looking for Curly but she already knows that new men have arrived.
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 comes off as a provocative, flirtatious, lustful woman, but is really hiding her true identity as a depressed and lonely person. Throughout the book Curley’s wife does show her true identity, but still tries to stay positive and deal with the bad hand she was dealt. Curley’s wife is a prime example of even though your life took a wrong turn that you shouldn’t give up. Curley’s wife may of been depressed, but she still tried to communicate everyday with someone no matter what they said to her.
...nd a tease throughout the novella which shows that the men only view her as a sexual being. The workers assume that everything she does is to cause trouble and she is held responsible for her own murder as well as the situation forcing George to kill Lennie. It is apparent that Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a medium to bring to light the excessive sexism women faced during the Great Depression.
Curley's wife's' life was portrayed as a women who liked to be around other men to try to seduce them. She was described as many things, such as a tramp and other words other than Curley's wife. None of the employees on the ranch wanted to be around her because she was described as nothing but trouble. Lennie was the only one who showed her attention, but that ended badly.
Curley’s wife represents every woman in society who is insecure in life in someway; therefore, eroding people and society’s trust. Meaning they are lead by their insecurities to do things that they shouldn’t do; therefore, causing people and society to lose trust in the insecure person. Specifically, Curley’s wife is insecure because of how her life is rather than how it could’ve been. Subsequently, this leads to regret, which is contagious like the flu: regret leads to her doing things and acting out in ways that she shouldn’t; therefore, she is receiving attention from others. Just like all the other women in society she had her life picked for her; this makes her feel like she has no power over her own life so she tries to do things
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...
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.
Steinbeck displays, Curley’s wife as more of an object to the men at the ranch. He conveys this idea through the description of her appearance. When Steinbeck introduces the reader and George and Lennie to Curley’s wife he takes a long time to describe her. “She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her finger nails were red “. This quotation suggests that Curley’s wife is an object to men in society and that she is as worth as much as she is wearing. Not only does Steinbeck describe her appearance he also describes her actions when on the ranch and talking to the men. He does this to show the awareness that the men have towards her. “She puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”. A lot of the men on the ranch try to ignore and do not want to start a conversation with her but through Steinbeck’s description of her actions the reader can see that she craves attention from the men on the
Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talk to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though, to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with a need for interaction.
After her death, the setting sun is low and growing soft. The sun is a metaphor for her dreams being ended, or the sun setting on her life. When the girl is first described, she is described with bright colors and strong images. After Lennie accidentally kills her, those sparks of life are extinguished. The metaphorical sun has set on her life. As the description continues, it is noted that “the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face” (Steinbeck 92). Death seems to have reduced her to society 's idealized version of a female. Right after the death of Curley 's wife, there is imagery of her purity and serenity in death. She is shown in a positive light for the first time in the novella, and provides contrast to what has just happened. Her appearance in the story seemed irrelevant until her death made her an important element to the narrative. She finally received recognition, but not the type she had longed
“I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her” (George) what is the reader supposed to think about Curley’s wife?
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