Curley's Wife and Crooks in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Curley’s wife had no friends. She lived on a ranch flooding with men, so she was always alone. All she wanted to do was talk to someone, but Curley forbid it. Curley’s wife says, “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like to not talk to anybody (page 87).” The men on the ranch misunderstood her and her feelings. They figured she would come around to start trouble.

Being Curley’s wife was difficult for her for many reasons. The first one is how she is seen by other men. Curley’s wife is mainly seen as a sexual object that flirts with other men and is unfaithful by looking at men in a way that is frowned upon for married women. They see her as desperate for being noticed and for attention. This quote explains what the men think of her. “I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin' all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye.” Her appearance comes off as needy and desperate. Another quote demonstrates this as well. Her face grew angry. "Wha's the matter with me?" she cried. "Ain't I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways? You're a nice guy. I don't know why I can't talk to you.” She knows how the see her and is mad because of how they judge her.The second reason is how she wanted her future to be.

He makes a big show of keeping his hand soft to caress her, yet also visits the local whorehouse on Saturday night. While he may strut around the ranch because of his position as the boss' son, he obviously cannot satisfy his wife and is mean, or perhaps simply detached from her. Curley beats up any man who dares to talk to her, but ironically, he rarely talks to her himself, and they spend the majority of the book looking for each other.

After Curley 's wife talks about her loneliness she begins to verbally attack the men about their lack of concern and apathetic attitude towards Curley. After Crooks asks her to leave, she threatens with him lynching. Curley 's wife knows that she could easily have this done, as she is married to the bosses son and can

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.

The next time Steinbeck presents Curleys wife is in her conversation with Lennie, Candy and Crooks. In this extract we see how Curleys wife clearly enjoys having power over others and because she is the only girl on the ranch she is prone to discrimination by being made to feel like one of Curleys possessions. We first get

Through her actions, Curley's Wife shows that she is lonely. Curley's Wife says to the men, "I'm lookin' for Curley" (Steinbeck 31). This quote represents that Curley's Wife is trying to be evasive, saying that she is searching for her husband but what she really demands is attention. In the barn with Lennie it appears that she needs companionship when she is sharing with him about her past. Curley's Wife talks about how she could be in the movies (Steinbeck 88). This passage suggests that she is sad that there aren't a lot of people around her because that is what it could be like if she was in the movies. Through the words about her husband Curley, she shows she needs companionship. She discloses that she doesn’t like Curley because he doesn’t let her talk to anyone but him (Steinbeck 87). This quote proposes that Curley isn't a very favorable companion because he isn't likeable and he doesn’t let her converse with anyone. During the novel Curley's Wife shows she is lonely and needs companionship through her feelings, her actions, and other

Several instances throughout the novel prove Curley's wife to be ignorant, especially toward the weaker ranch workers. A prime example of her ignorance is displayed in

Steinbeck has written ''Of Mice And Men '' about an adventure of George and Lennie trying to accomplish their American dream's during the Great Depression during the 1930's where thousands of people lost their jobs in the Wall Street Crash making them feel hopeless. George and Lennie come to work at a ranch near Soledad in California. There they meet fellow ranch mates and a woman called Curley's Wife. In this essay I will focus on how Curley's Wife's personality and actions change throughout the novella and who she affect her and other bunkmates throughout the novella. In addition to that I would be showing how Steinbeck creates tension by using Curleys Wife.

In Of Mice & Men, the character Curley’s Wife is depicted as flirtatious, promiscuous, and insensitive. However, her husband Curley sees her as only a possession. Most of the workers at the ranch see her as a tart, whereas Slim, the peaceful and god-like figure out of all the men, see her as lonely. This answer will tell us to which extent, is Curley’s wife a victim, whether towards her flirtatious behaviour, or to everyone’s representation of her.

During this time period, blacks were highly segregated from whites and women were believed to belong inside the house. This was portrayed in the book by the boss beating Crooks whenever something went wrong with the farm, and how Crooks was forbidden to do anything because of his color. That was the only job available to him at the time also, so if he left he would be unable to support himself. Curley’s wife somehow always found a way to find the guys and ask where her husband was, when she actually did not care. She believed she was stuck on the farm because of him and would not forgive him. “Why’n’t you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?”(61) Carlson tells Curley after one of her famous disappearances. Curley’s wife often trails the guys around trying to see which guy she can get to pay her any attention. Lennie was an easy target for her, and when she finally got what she wanted she ended up regretting it.

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” (pg. 32). Curley’s wife tries to get attention from someone besides Curley by showing herself off, but the men on the ranch realize that if they respond to Curley’s wife, it will elicit a violent response from him and a possibility of getting kicked off the ranch. The result is that Curley’s wife gets a lot of negative attention without any actual friendship. She is also the only woman on the entire ranch from what Steinbeck describes. She cannot talk to the men and there are no women that Curley might allow her to talk to, leaving her without any meaningful relationships. Despite her efforts, she ends up even more separated from the other people on the ranch.

Thesis: Through Curley’s wife, George and Lennie, and Crooks; Steinbeck demonstrates that dreams may go askew in the face of greater forces. Dreams prove ultimately harmful for those delegated to the margins of society. Crooks’ dream of not being in isolation represents powerlessness in the face of racial discrimination. As Lennie enter Crooks room, Crooks tries to apprehend him but gives in and lets him stay.

In John Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife is a more three dimensional character than originally perceived or presented as. Curley’s Wife is first seen when George and Lennie are settling into the farm and she shows up wearing very revealing clothing and appearing very promiscuous. She is very quickly known as someone to avoid. I think that Steinbeck’s characters think that Curley’s Wife is very seductive or provocative because of the way she presents herself and that she has a craving for attention and can only get it sexually. Curley’s Wife feels she is a lonely woman and just wants a personal relationship.

Will Smith once said, “The women who don’t seek attention are usually the women you need to be giving your attention to”. This quote relates to Mice and Men because Curley’s wife is in the observe situation, where with her actions, she is pleading for attention but gets none in return. In the novel, Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the only female in the book is killed because the men think she is troublesome and bait for problems. Through the use of the men’s and the narrator’s diction, characterization, and the men’s assumptions, Steinbeck portrays how desperate Curley’s wife is for attention, later resulting in her death, which inturn causes the death of someone else.