Imagine running away from home. Then picture marrying someone that you never loved. On top of all of this, envision not being able to fulfill your dreams. This was exactly the case for Curley’s wife. Throughout the novel Curley’s wife was portrayed as a victim in many instances. Curley’s wife appeared to be a victim because she didn’t fulfill her dreams, didn’t love her husband, and was lonely.
To start off, Curley’s wife had a dream of becoming an actress. She was unable to fulfill this dream because she didn’t receive a letter from Hollywood. After never receiving the letter, she gave up and settled for marrying Curley. This is the first reason Curley’s wife appears to be a victim. Curley’s wife confessed her dreams of being an actress to Lennie. She mentioned how she believed that her mother stole
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She was always visiting the bunkhouse stating that she was looking for Curley when actually she was just looking for company. She never acquires the opportunity to really talk to anyone because Curley doesn’t allow them to speak to her. Along with not being allowed to speak with anyone other than Curley, she is also the only female on the ranch. Being the only female makes many of the men on the ranch prejudice toward her. Throughout the novel this woman is only referred to as “Curley’s wife”. Steinbeck never gives her a name to show that she is an object that is owned by Curley, showing again how she is a victim.
In conclusion, not fulfilling her dreams, not loving her husband, and being lonely were all examples of how Curley’s wife was characterized as a victim. Curley’s wife confessed all of these things to Lennie. She told of how she had no one to talk to, and how she didn’t love her husband. There were also many instances in the novel when she would wander around the ranch “looking for Curley” when all she wanted was someone to talk to. Imagine, if this were your story, would you consider yourself a victim as
Curley’s wife doesn’t like Curley. She married Curley to get away from her mother because she thought her mother stole her dreams. She says, “I ast her if she stole it, too, an’ she
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 is a lonely and Naïve, and that makes her an easy prey. She is the only woman on the ranch she is a lonely woman. Her husband, Curley, is a mean and over powering man, uses her to pick fights with other guys. He is a terrible husband who not only is mean to his wife but also leads us to believe that he beats her up. Curley’s wife usually would listen to her records but Curley even breaks those. Her flirtatious nature is what gets her into trouble, and that also leads her to her death. Lennie is a gentle giant who doesn’t mean to hurt anybody but accidentally does. In the case of Lennie, Curley’s wife does not know what she is getting in for. Curley’s wife flirtatious nature is a harsh reality but as an innocent person get her in to trouble.
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.
Curley’s wife is probably one of the most misunderstood characters in the novel, often being looked down upon, or talked badly about. She is the only woman on the ranch, and who appears consistently throughout the novel. At one point, some of the workers are
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.
Curley’s wife is a victim because Curley her husband, abuses and mistreats her. Curley is always curious and spectacle of where his wife is as if he does not trust her with other men. Commonly asked by Curley "y'all seen my wife around?". Perfectly explaining as of how low the trust is in their relationship. Curley is also presented a being one of the cockiest, if not the cockiest, on the ranch, despite his size. Everyone on the ranch can see it too, the Swamper says” He’s cockier then ever since he got married.” The way Curley act’s comes off as he has a good-looking wife just to present her looks off to other men on the ranch, as a way to show his power. Or is treated because Curley truly does not care about her, he is really not in love
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
John Steinbeck uses Curley 's wife to portray the woman 's role in the 1930s. Back then, women were treated as property and trophies to their husbands. Women 's insignificance is signified by the fact that Curley 's wife is never given a name. She is always referred to as Curley 's belonging. Additionally, Carlson 's statement about Curley 's wife needing to go back to her place where she belongs characterizes women 's roles by saying that women should be at home performing domestic chores. In essence, women were looked down upon and never seen as equal to the men.
The final part of this answer is the predator that lies within Curley’s wife, the one that preys on other’s disadvantages. This is shown in many scenes, where she takes advantage of Lennie’s mental instability
When Crooks, Lennie, and Candy were sitting in in the bunkhouse, Curley’s wife wanders into the bunkhouse and how Steinbeck says, “Looking in was Curley’s wife.” giving her no name at all! She must not be as important as everyone else if she doesn’t have a name (77). She’s also judged on her appearance and how she puts herself out there, Steinbeck mentions to the readers and says “She dropped her fingers and put her hands on her hips.” making it seem like she’s the stuff and run everyone and everything on the ranch (77). She probably acts the way she does because she doesn’t get to talk to anyone. Everyone is scared to talk to her or just doesn’t want to get into anything with Curley. She’s very lonely and she is the only girl on the farm. As she walked into the barn she saw Lennie and started talking to him and Lennie refused to talk back and that’s when she said “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” she’s upset because she doesn’t do anything all day long and has no one to talk too and she finally lost it and said something about it (87).
John Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife at the start of the story as an irrelevant character because she has no relation with George and Lennie. At the start, Curley is one of the most important characters (besides George and Lennie) because he has the power to crush George and Lennie’s dream of having a farm of your own. But as the story goes on, to end, we see the importance of her character and that everything that has happened on the ranch is caused by her presence; even though she is not in the story as much as others, she has a long lasting effect on the other characters. She is mentioned in the story a lot because of how she would acted around the men working in the ranch. In the end, we knew Lennie and George were not going to get a
Some may think it is just sexism at its finest that determines the books way of calling Curley’s wife as Curley’s and nameless from there on out, but that is not the only resort to the name calling. Curley’s wife is not happy with Curley, maybe the relationship started off good at first but Mrs.Curley realizes that her marrying Curley was really just isolating herself from the rest of the word and gave her no say in her own life. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…" (102) Curley’s wife seems to never be fully heard by anyone in the ranch on what she wants in her life or her opinions on others. This caused her prejudice because even to George and Lennie Mrs.Curley was just “Curley’s wife” and still had no say or opinion in what she was talking about. This later cost her her own life when Lennie fails to listen to her cries when he accidentally choked her to
Curley’s wife, on the other hand, is not insecure, but suffers from ostracism and isolation because she is a married woman. Michael Meyer points out, “…the hardship for a woman to live on the ranch as presented in the novel should not be ignored”. Curley’s wife only wants someone to talk with her, but the men on the ranch mistake her trying to start conversations as sexual advances: “I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody… I don’t know what the hell she wants” (Steinbeck 51). They also ridicule her, calling her a