Character Analysis Of Curley's Wife

Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men' explores the everyday lives of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In this era, American men were forced to leave their families and become 'drifters'. These were people who didn't have a fixed job and continually moved from place to place.

In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, there are very interesting characters, including Curley’ wife or, in other words, “his possession”. At the beginning of the novel, Curley’s wife is described as a” tart”. She was given that name by the ranch heads. Physically, she had a fascinating fashion style. She would always have her fingernails painted red, her makeup would always be worn heavily and she had a thing for feathers, which she would have worn on her shoes. The guys on the ranch thought she was attractive but they weren't looking forward to any trouble with her husband, so they kept their distance from her.

Curley’s wife acts very provocative, playful, childish and flirtatious, this is because she is very lonely and has no power at all. Nobody knows the real person she is because no one ever dares to get in trouble with her. Curley’s wife is often presented negatively by Steinbeck such as when she is cruel to crooks after his hopes have been raised by the dream. This is easily shown when Curley’s wife snaps at Crooks. “keep your place then, Nigger.

At first, Curley's wife is described to the reader through the comments of the men on

Curley’s wife is treated with very little respect because of the small amount of power she has, which depicts Steinbeck’s lesson that people with less power are treated differently and then go on to treat others unequally, as well. Curley’s wife has a flirty reputation and often goes to talk to the men on the ranch even though she knows she shouldn't be. Shortly after Lennie and George are first introduced to Curley’s wife, George remarks, “Gosh, she was purty.” George is shocked and fiercely tells Lennie, “Don't you even take a look at that bitch. I don't care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be”(Steinbeck 32). Lennie’s initial reaction of Curley’s wife is not uncommon for the lack of intelligence he has. George’s fierce attitude toward Curley’s wife when he calls her

Curley’s wife from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is an important character to the plot and themes of the novel. She is first introduced as the new wife of Curley who is very flirtatious. She grew up in Salinas and had dreams of being a Hollywood actress. However, her mother would not allow her to follow her dreams since she was only sixteen. So, she married Curley, who she met at a dance, and lives on the ranch with him and the other ranch workers. Throughout the novel, Curley's wife shows that she has a ignorant and flirtatious personality but is also very lonely.

Curley’s wife is a complicated character. She is unfaithful and bitter. But that’s only because she is extremely lonely and feels unwanted by her husband. She takes the feeling of dissatisfaction and projects it at all of the men on the ranch. She regrets the direction her life has taken but still has hope that she can achieve her dream. All the characters in the novel feel like outsiders and Curley’s wife is no

Curley’s wife - a flirtatious, mysterious women in the novel. She is the only women that is described by Steinbeck in the novel. How we call her- “Curley’s wife” shows that she is just a possession of Curley. And the others names that George and Candy had given to her are “looloo; jailbait; tart”; these names show how badly she was treated in the ranch particularly and the sexism in American society in 20s - 30s generally.

The Loneliness of Curley’s Wife Thesis Statement: In the book, Of Mice And Men, Curley’s wife is the most lonely person in the book. In the book, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife makes it clear through her conversations with other characters that she is the most lonely in the story. She is a lonely girl that has no friends at all.

”Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

He has used this by using the quote '' The ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.'' Steinbeck has described her as an angel who washed out her sins and went pure. In contrast to this Curley only cares about his social status. You can see this when ''Curley...ain't you better stay here with your wife''. Normally when your wife dies you would want to share your last moments together but the fact that Curley has to be reminded about his wife's death is upsetting since his main focus is killing Lennie. And it emphasises that he just used her as a possession due to the fact that it was a loveless marriage therefore he didn't really care much about her. In this quote you can also tell that all the bunkmates felt sorry for her even thought she acted with suspense because she didn't deserve more misery in her

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,

Steinbeck creates contrasting representations of Curley’s wife using the phrase “and the meanness and planning and discontent and the ache for attention” with “were all gone.” The juxtaposition of the two phrases is used to show the reader that all her bad qualities and all her obnoxiousness has all been washed away and it has disappeared into thin air and we actually start to somewhat feel pity for this character that we had thought to be a “b***h” and a “tart.” The long sentence and syndetic listing actually emphasises

The daughter in law of the ranch’s owner, which we will refer as Curley’s wife from now on, was killed instantly by a fatal injury to the neck caused by a retarded worker, Lennie. Born with talents of acting, Curley’s wife was invited to an audition by a famous Hollywood director at the age of eighteen. Unfortunately, her mother turned down the audition for her, due to unclear reasons. She then married to Curley, the son of the ranch’s owner, and lived on the ranch until her death. From the workers on the ranch, we learned that Curley’s wife was very lonely

It was a Sunday afternoon, and Curley was playing horseshoes out with them other farm workers. I wanted to get away from that blasted Curley. He never let me talk to anyone, not anyone on the farm. Not only that, he won’t even treat me like I’m his wife, barely even talkin’ to me unless he had a hateful thing to say. I’m tired of life on this farm.