How Does Steinbeck Present Curley’s Wife in Of Mice And Men?
Of Mice and Men is a morale motivated novel that allows Steinbeck to voice his opinion about the hardships and issues of the 1930’s and the Great Depression. One of the main issues Steinbeck explores in great detail is sexism and the character that is used to channel the attitude towards women most is Curley’s Wife, the only female to appear in person in the entire novella. However, his representation of this character and how she compares to other females mentioned may give a false and unfair representation of women during the era. During the 1930’s it seems that women were expected to behave in a certain manner or portray themselves in a certain way by conforming to stereotypes. According to Steinbeck in this novella, there seem to be three main types of women in the 1930’s: a feminine woman (like the girl in Weed); a motherly woman (like Aunt Clara) and a wanton woman (Suzy from the whore house). As Curley’s wife was rejected from a more feminine lifestyle after never receiving a letter from a man who promised her stardom, it’s possible that she decided to try a more motherly mind set by marrying Curley.
However, it soon becomes clear that she is not the mothering type when she insults the workers by saying that they’re “a bunch of bindle stiffs, a n***** an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep”. By declaring this, Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife changes from a flirt or a “tart” who is unsatisfied with
In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote two stories, The Chrysanthemums and Of Mice and Men. In these stories, Steinbeck highlighted the struggle and oppression of women during that time Both of his writings took place on a ranch in Salinas, California during the 1930’s, during the great depression. Both Elisa from The Chrysanthemums and Curley's wife from Of Mice and Men had internal conflicts and despised their husbands. Steinbeck's women proved to be strong and intelligent, especially compared to the men around them.
None of the guys really take time to understand why she acts as the way she does and they continuously judge her. In chapter 4 of the novel, I concluded that she is kind of always on the lonely side. On page {78}of the novel she states that her husband barely pays any attention to her and doesn't show her the affection that she would like. “Spends all his time sayin’ what he's gonna do to the guys he don't like, and he don't like nobody. Think I'm gonna stay in that two-by four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twilit, an then bring in the Ol one-two an’ he’ll go down”. Although it seems like Steinbeck is showing sympathy for Curley’s wife character, all the torture she makes the men on the ranch go through would never be right. Her character plays such a big role in the novel, which I believe makes the novel, continuously interesting. She is
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.
This is one example of where instead of using her name the ranch workers refer her as Curley’s wife. After finishing this book one question will always be a mystery, what is the name of Curley’s wife. Her lack of identity in the book, might imply that she is not a woman, but rather a possession of her husband. Steinbeck perhaps, portrayed her this way, so that the reader could recognize how society saw women. “ You gotta husband’. You got no call foolin aroun’ with other guys…” (Steinbeck, 77). This is another quote that shows after marriage, a girl has no rights in talking to people because she belongs o her husband. Society has leaded the life of Curley’s wife into the depths of
In this essay I am going to be assessing the character Curleys Wife from Steinbeck’s book Of Mice And Men. The book is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression it features two farm workers called George and Lennie. The travel around together in search of work sharing a dream of a place of their own, a small ranch where they can live and work for themselves. It tells the story of how violence may erupt to destroy those dreams. Curleys wife is a character in the book who from the brief encounters with her is presented in two ways. Firstly the dangerous, flirtatious character who isn’t trusted by the rest of the ranch workers but then later one we realize how she is just a victim
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.
A social issue that Steinbeck desired to reveal in Of Mice and Men was the reality women were facing as they were regarded as property or objects and not as individual people in the 1930s. Women would often times not even have the chance to defend and explain themselves against this cynical perspective on them, “Well, I think Curley's married a tart... ‘Listen to me, you crazy bastard,’ he said fiercely ‘Don’t you even take a look at at that bitch’...You mean Curly's girl?” (Steinbeck 28, 32, 55). The first thing we hear George say about Curley’s wife is that she’s a tart and the second thing we hear about her that
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.
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 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
In the novella, Of Mice and Men, there is a character named Curley’s Wife. Curley’s Wife is first shown in the novella as a character who is provocative and represented as darkness. Throughout the story she is dehumanized, objectified, and sexualized. Therefore, Steinbeck crafts the character, Curley’s Wife, in order to convey how the american dream is unattainable through him showing sexism and discrimination towards women.
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.
Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ was set in the 1930’s where slavery had just been abolished and discrimination towards women was tolerable. One of the most prominent themes in the book is of outcasts and misfits both of which Crooks and Curley’s wife are as to social norms. Throughout the whole book both Crooks and Curley’s wife are not mentioned by their own name, but rather than labels given to them by other people .Steinbeck has done this in order to symbolize slavery and sexism
John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, in the Salinas Valley, California. It establishes the prospect of the American Dream, discrimination,loneliness, and disenfranchisement through its characters. George and Lennie provided the value of the American Dream, to which the leading female role, Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. The novella seeks to demonstrate the way of which life was like for the characters of all different statuses and backgrounds. Through Curley’s wife’s character, we are able to see how life was like for a women during