Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as an unhappy woman who is married to the boss’s son; essentially she is just a “trophy wife”, there to make other men jealous. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is set during the Depression of the nineteen thirties. Curley’s wife is an important minor character, who is alternately presented as a victim and as danger to the men on the ranch. The title is based on a poem by Robert Burns which is about a mouse whose nest is destroyed in a similar way to the plot where people’s dreams are destroyed. The tragic novel is set in the southern state of California and explores the lives of ranch workers and the hardships they face. The dialogue in the story is Californian working class dialect representing the background of the men. Curley’s wife highlights the two main themes in the novel dreams, and loneliness. As the only woman on the ranch she is objectified by the men who exhibit the casual sexism of the time. Attitudes towards women were very much tied up with their roles as wives and mothers, or as prostitutes. She did not fit the role of mother and wife because of her appearance and dress, so the men stereotyped her as the latter. There were certain expectations to which she didn’t conform. Her flirtatiousness is designed to get the men’s attention because she has no one to talk to but they only see it as a danger which could get them fired. She only does it because she is lonely; she is shown to be a victim of male prejudice and experiences an even more acute loneliness than that of the men.
Steinbeck constructs an image in the reader’s minds about Curley’s wife before we meet her. He forewarns the reader when Candy warns George about Curley’s wife who is a subject of the men’s gossip. He descri...
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.... Throughout the novel it seems that the other characters seem to misunderstand her. She was not intended to be a “floozy” but to be pitied and liked. He discusses her tough background in detail. Steinbeck invokes sympathy from the reader and well as wants us to understand that it was not only men who were affected by the great depression. It seems that she married Curley to get away from her life and to realise her dream. It did not happen. Instead she destroys Lennie and Georges dream. Steinbeck may have used her merely to represent women of the time. However she appears to highlight the lives of the men since she is both a danger to them and their victim. The novel ends how it started, the dream being told to Lennie. George and Lennie end up in the same place they began to confirm the cyclical nature of the book and to reinforce the insurmountable American dream.
“Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody.” (Steinbeck, 86). In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is an outcast compared to the men. Being female, she cannot do what the men can. This novel was based in the 1920’s, a time where women weren’t allowed to do certain, almost all, things. She was not allowed to talk to anyone because she was seen as a threat. Her treatment was caused by how men viewed her. This all affected her responsibility, the views of her as a woman, and her loneliness.
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...
Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife interacts with the characters in a flirtatious manner that is intended to grab attention, thus making the others distrustful of her. It’s fascinating to note that the way others treat her determines how she treats them back; for example, Lennie is the only man to regard her positively, calling her “purdy” (Steinbeck 32), so she behaves empathically towards him, whereas Candy refers to her as a “bitch” (Steinbeck 84) and she’s rather vile towards him. This point is further supported
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
In this extract, Steinbeck prepares the reader for future events through the use of foreshadowing. This is done through the introduction and the description of Curley's wife, and the reaction of George and Lennie. Through the various use of repetition, symbols, and metaphors, the author hints the reader about what will happen to the different characters of the novel. The author continues to use foreshadowing in the rest of the novel as a hint to the reader. However, this extract is the most significant event to the rest of the novel because of the introduction of Curley's wife, who is the main reason why the foreshadowing is necessary for the reader.
My introduction : Throughout the novel, many are lonely. Of the characters, Curley's wife, Crooks and Candy all show signs of desperate loneliness, though they respond quite differently. Each is isolated because of special mistreatment. Because Crooks is black, he is shunned and separated from the other men. He spends most of his time in his room, alone and bitter. Curley's wife also spends her days hounded by her mean, spirited husband; her attempts to reach out to the other men backfire and win the the undeserved reputation of a flirt. Candy has a disadvantage being handicap, and he has an unconditional love for an old and feeble and after his dog is shot he looks for new companionship. Throughout the characters of Curley's wife, Crooks and Candy, Steinbeck proves that one can be lonely, even if he's constantly surrounded by people.
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.
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
The characters’ dreams are asserted throughout the novella. Curley’s wife’s aspirations for fame were eradicated once she married him. “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella. Coulda been in the movies an’ had nice clothes, all them nice clothes like they wear” (Steinbeck 89). The wife’s statements epitomize the internal conflict she has regarding the choice she made of marrying Curley as opposed to embarking upon her dream of becoming famous. She is clearly aware that she had a superb chance at becoming famous, but the fact that she had to settle for Curley causes her a substantial amount of bitterness. Curley’s wife is also involved in another type of conflict; this one external—between her and George. “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch? I don’t care what she say...
The saying “it’s a cruel world out there” is not far from reality in John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men. The plot in the novel carries the reader through the world of two friends, Lennie and George, who have come to work as field hands at a ranch. Lennie, unfortunately, has a mental handicap, which forces George to keep a close eye on him. When Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife, the spouse to the boss’s hot-tempered son, George must put an end his friend’s life, in Lennie’s benefit. Steinbeck exposes the cruelty in the human existence through his use of the rhetorical devices foreshadowing, symbolism, and characterization.
Steinbeck expresses the theme of loneliness in the character of Candy. Candy is lonely because his is missing half an arm. Candy?s disability separates him from society, an example of Curley being set aside is when everybody else goes to town he is left in the barn with Crooks, Lennie, and Curley?s wife. Candy?s only friendship was with his old, smelly dog. Candy?s dog was a symbol of himself (old, and useless). When Carlson kills Candy?s dog he kills Candy on the inside as well.
Curley’s wife, she’s the one in the story that has no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch, the book tells how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start, she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie gets carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics and ends up holding her down and ends up killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and
In a way, the opposite of George and Lennie’s connection is the relationship between Curley and his wife. Curley is a very arrogant, jealous, and controlling man, while his wife - who remains unnamed throughout the novel - is gorgeous and flirtatious. She is a trophy wife for Curley, who is otherwise much more wealthy than all the other characters in Of Mice and Men because he is the son of the owner of the farm, and he treats her like one. Their relationship obviously lacks the mutual respect, love, and proper attention that marriages need to survive.
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 a complex, main character in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men”. She is introduced as an insignificant secondary character, but evidently posses the importance of causing the end of the novella. Despite the weight of her role, her value is hindered because of the culture towards women in the 1930s. Steinbeck uses imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphors to show loneliness analyzed through a Feminist Lens.