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
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.
Loneliness is one of the primary themes in Of Mice and Men. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck shows the enormous effect that loneliness has on the characters. Steinbeck most clearly illustrates this theme through Crooks, Candy, and Curley 's wife. Ranch hands are ideal types of people to portray as being lonely, because their constant travel leaves them without someone to talk to or share things with. Steinbeck also shows how important it is for every human being to have a companion. Companionship is necessary in order for someone to live an enjoyable life. Although loneliness affects each one of the characters in Of Mice and Men differently, they all experience negative feelings from their lack of
Essay about Curley’s wife Curley’s wife is the only female character in the novel Of Mice of Men; Curley’s wife is never given a name and is only referred to in reference to her husband. Like the other people on the ranch, she is very lonely and has dreams of a better life which never come true. The author John Steinbeck introduces Curley’s wife in a symbolic ness way, this is shown when George is talking to Lennie about the dream and when Curley’s wife first meets both the men. “Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off.
Throughout the book, Curley’s wife is known as an evil temptation just because she’s a girl; however, when she is at her strongest it’s not because she is a girl it’s because she strips away Crooks power and tears him down to nothing. Curley’s wife walks into the stable where “all the weak ones [are]” (Steinbeck 77), and when they tell her to get out because shes no good, she threatens Crooks. She states, “‘Listen, nigger… You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’... She closed in on him… ‘Well you keep your place then, nigger
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.
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
When she was in the barn with Lennie, she began to tell her dream of being a movie actress in Hollywood, with luxurious life, money and respect other people that she currently doesn’t have. Her dream almost came true, but then Curley came destroyed her dream, and now, she has to stay in the dirty ranch, doing housework and doesn’t have any freedom, being treated as a possession of
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
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,
Curley’s wife constantly complains how lonely she is as Curley is not around most of the time. This drives her to wander about the ranch talking to other men and questioning them about Curley's whereabouts. As most of the men are in town, Curley’s wife wanders to the barn where Candy, Crooks, and Lennie are currently located. The men question why she is there and see her as a nuisance. But, she stays and discusses her struggles with loneliness. “‘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 nobody’” (Steinbeck 87). In other words, Curley’s wife is left alone by Curley so much that she feels the need to talk to anybody that she finds. This is why she wanders about the ranch all day and talks to any men she can find. This demonstrates how women were treated during this time; they were thought to be unimportant and were often left alone by their spouses. Curley’s wife did not have a name, which shows how unimportant she really is. Women were thought to be of no use, leaving them to not have the ability to achieve the American dream.
Throughout most of the book Curley’s wife strikes us as a compelling and riveting character as we initially see her as a wicked character till those few seconds before she dies where you think, hey she might not be so bad after all. In the novel ‘of Of mice Mice and men’ Men’ Curley’s wife’s image is portrayed as a very sexual, flirtatious, cheeky and desperate. Steinbeck uses specific words, sentences and techniques to create the image of Curley’s wife as one that is very contrasting.
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
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
The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck contains an evident theme of loneliness and isolation. Steinbeck uses his characters to invoke this theme throughout the novella. One character that is able to portray this perfectly is Curley's wife. John Steinbeck's main message through the use of the theme of loneliness, is that it's better to isolate oneself from others in order to achieve your goals.