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Colloquial Language In Curley's Wife

Decent Essays

In this essay I will be exploring the ways John Steinbeck shows the character of Curley’s wife in the novel. I will be focusing on the way Steinbeck uses language to portrays the character of Curley’s wife in different ways. I will also reflect on the impact of the character on the audience and how our perception of her is regularly changing during the novel.

The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression, where women were expected to marry and look after the children. A woman was not expected to have her own opinion and they did not have numerous rights. These social expectations and views are reflected through the character of Curley’s wife in the novel.

In Curley’s wife first appearance she is shown as an attention seeker and troublemaker. For example …show more content…

For instance ‘Jesus, what a tramp.’ This Quote suggests that Curley’s wife is treated as an inferior since she is called disgraceful names. Colloquial language is used in this quote with the word ‘tramp.’ This gives a conversational tone in the writing implying that it is casual to call Curley’s wife names. The informal word ‘tramp’ signifies that she is seen as a promiscuous women and that the men have very little to non respect for her. She is seen as irrelevant since she doesn’t have an identity. She is seen as Curley’s property and is not given a name. This could make the reader feel compassionate towards Curley’s wife because of the way she is treated. On the other hand the reader could feel relived because of the way Curley’s wife acts she is getting what she deserves. This links back to the 1930 when the novel was written because women didn't have many rights and where seen as a man’s ‘property’ because their only job in life was to get married and have children. This reflects on the character as she is seen as underclass and has no identity. As a result Steinbeck shows Curley’s wife as irrelevant and underclass

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