Who Deserves Death More: Curley’s Wife or Lennie? Fatima Athar 9PJ-HK
The award-winning novella “Of Mice and Men” is about the disordered and very complex relationship between two very different migrant workers: George and Lennie. This novella was penned by John Steinbeck, set during the 1930’s after the wall street crash, during the Great Depression. It took place in Soledad - the city where he was born and raised, Steinbeck experienced the alarm of the Great Depression. Two of the most complex and main characters were murdered; Curley’s wife and Lennie. There are myriad ways that the author has shown that Curley’s wife deserved death more, giving the reader an insight into Curley’s wife rude and snobby behaviours.
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"Hi, Slim," she said… "Hi, Good-lookin'." (Curley’s wife and Slim Chapter 2). This description of Curley’s wife that Steinbeck introduced allows the reader to understand that Curley’s wife is not faithful to her husband, she chooses to be bad. Considering the fact that Curley’s wife has the strength and power to roam around flirting with men, shows that she is not faithful to Curley. She is choosing to be bad by leading herself astray and flirting with men she should not have been flirting with. Also, as the reader sees when Slim replies to Curley’s wife with, “Hi, Good-lookin’.”, showing that he doesn’t care about being ‘canned’ by Curley and giving Curley’s wife the crave that she wants. However, Slim only calls her “Good-lookin’” stating to the reader that he also sees Curley’s wife as a tart, as an object. “"I'm tryin' to find Curley, Slim."... "Well, you ain't tryin' very hard. I seen him goin' in your house."” (Curley’s wife and Slim Chapter 2). She was suddenly apprehensive. "'Bye, boys,", Steinbeck portrays to the reader that after Slim tells Curley’s wife that her husband is looking for her in her house, she suddenly becomes alert, knowing that Curley has the power to do anything he wants and also knowing that if he gets suspicious about what she’s doing, and start to be on her trail strictly after that. In contrast, Lennie does not choose to be bad. Lennie with the mental …show more content…
“The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.” (Curley’s wife Chapter 2), Steinbeck illustrates to the reader that Curley’s wife cut off the sunshine from the ranch workers, showing the reader that Curley’s wife has a rotten personality. She takes light away from others, which can keep them in isolation. Her face was caked, and everything about her is red. Red shows the reader negativity and hatred and anger and a flirtatious as her personality. Her nails, lips, dress, and shoes were all red, symbolising this all. Also, her hair was “hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages,” portraying to the reader that she had ugly, sausage like hair, which makes the reader visualise her as a negative icon in the novella. The reader can then, therefore, foreshadow that the end of the book has something to do with Curley’s wife. When the reader reasons of the world mules, they think of donkeys, but here they are stating them as fancy shoes. This shows that Curley’s wife has a lot, and on a
'Of Mice and Men' is based around two main themes; loneliness, and the fragility of dreams. Each main character connects with both of these themes at some stage throughout the novel. Curley's wife is no exception to this. At the beginning of the novel the reader views her as an unpleasant, naive and troublesome character. However, as the novel progresses, the reader is gradually exposed to another side of Curley's wife, one that suggests she is merely a
In his short book or novella Of Mice and Men, author John Steinbeck draws attention to migrant farm workers in the Depression era of the 1930s. Through his story he looks at human nature in the areas of men’s friendship, loneliness, and meanness or bullying. This essay looks at Steinbeck’s depiction of the tendency to bully others and that the tendency seems to come from their own weakness. This meanness is shown in the relationships of the characters. The bullying is physical, psychological, and emotional and nearly all of the characters demonstrate it, including George, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife and it is contrasted to the unintentional violence of Lennie.
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
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
Some characters in this novel are alienated by mainstream society because they do not fit society’s ideal image of a person. And they are all not accepted as human beings. Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the social injustice of how people were treated during the Great Depression is explored through the characters Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie, to show that society actually needs to become stronger than it really is.
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
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,
"You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me," Crooks said sharply (68). In the book Of Mice and Men, two men travel together to find work to raise enough money to live the American dream. Lennie Small and George Milton, two hard working men, believe they can accomplish the ultimate dream. Lennie and George work together to go through each hardship and challenge they encounter on the ranch. Through the characters Carlson, Crooks, and Curley's wife, John Steinbeck says the “virus” cruelty, can change a person into having a bitter and negative attitude.
“O.K. Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-‘’(pg.14) Lennie and George’s dream was in Lennie’s words to “Live off the fatta the lan’.” Everyone in life has a different dream that they want, but sometimes the road to that dream has a couple detours. When people get off of the road they try as hard as they can to get back on it, but sometimes you just can’t. A dream has a very personalized route to get to it but with courage, strength, and persistence a dream will come true.
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.
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 quotes, “Jesus what a tramp.”, blatantly giving out the impression Curley’s wife had on the men and her role in the novella. She is commonly referred to by her looks. On page 51, Steinbeck quotes, “Well, stick around an’ keep your eyes open. You’ll see plenty”(51), that gives the recurring impression that she is subject to sexual objectification and only worthy of being known by her looks rather than who she is herself. Wherever Curley went on the ranch she was objectified for her “purty” looks and desperation for attention. Although in this sense she was more a prepotrater rather than a victim. Curley’s wife used her beauty to seek attention from the guys on the ranch, whether positive or negative. On page 31 these three segments, “ She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward... She bridled a little...She smiles archly and twitched her body.”(31), that show her as acceptently gaining the wanted attention from the men because of her body. On page 77, Steinbeck’s quotes, “Her face was heavily made up.”(77), the definition of beauty within the text. It’s implied that makeup makes a women beautiful, not what is underneath. The other women in the text fulfill the sexual pleasure position of women. Old Susy's place is a well known common place for the guys on the ranch for the “girls”, drinks, and
star, but she has to stay on the ranch on "Sat'iday night" and talk to
One character in the story does not even have a name: Curley’s wife. Steinbeck illustrates her as someone who is a pawn of those around her. On the surface, she is reduced to a rude and selfish woman. But, if one looks deeper, Curley’s wife’s gender and class hinder her high aspirations and reduces her to ridicule. Her husband restricts her contact with others and does not show any affection towards her. She reveals this while
John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men is an extraordinary novel with unique characteristics. The novel is about an uncommon friendship between two extremely different individuals who are living and working together. This story belong to the genres tragic realistic fiction, historical fiction and drama. The linking between the novel and The Great Depression emphasizes throughout the story, which makes the novel very realistic and down to earth. The author touches on several themes such as: the unreachable American dream, the economic injustices, loneliness, friendship and people’s propensity for cruelty. In this book review, we will get into a deeper understanding of what the actual story means.