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Is curley's wife a victim

Decent Essays

John Steinbeck planned out every word he put into his novel Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck did exactly this with the development of the character Curley’s wife. She had started the novel as a “tart” or a nuisance of a character, but later she turned into an admriable character, one that you really feel for. In Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife is shown as a very unpleasant character. For example, while Lennie, Candy and Crookes were in Crooks’ room discussing their ranch, she walks in and says “Listen, Nigger...” “...You keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” (Pg 88 and 89). This shows she is taking advantage of the fact she’s the boss’s son’s wife, and uses her position of power …show more content…

This shows she doesn’t always just want to cause trouble and be a nuisance. She only wants to make friends and not feel lonely all of the time. In addition, she also says “Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it...” “... I never got that letter.” (pg 96). She is saying here that she thought she could one day be famous, and she doesn’t like being with Curley at the ranch. She never wanted to be at the ranch, but after the letter never showed up, she went and married Curley. Curley’s wife is compassionate and admirable, but very lonely. Loneliness is unavoidable for most characters on the ranch in Of Mice and Men. Curley’s wife is one of the characters in this novel who fell victim to loneliness. It is shown when she explains why Curley does not allow her to talk to the other men because of his insecurities: “‘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 not to talk to anybody?” (pg 95). Curley’s insecurities disable his wife from being able to talk to people. Curley’s wife gets lonely, and it provokes her to act in a way of meanness when she does. Her loneliness is also shown as she walks in to Crooks’ bunk, “Well I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house all time?” (pg 85). This directly shows that she is unable to have a social life

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