Of Mice and Men: Is Curley's Wife a Victim or Villian?

Humans are responsible for their own actions, and the characters Of Mice and Men are no exception. In Steinbeck's novel, Curley’s wife’s actions result in her tragic death. She faces this situation when she denies the warnings she is given in the first place. Therefore, Lennie, or anyone else for that matter, can not be responsible for her death. Curley’s wife is the only one to blame because she is warned to stay away in the first place, has knowledge of Lennie’s strength, and still allows Lennie to pet her hair even after seeing the result of him petting the puppy.

However, when she notices George and Lennie, Curley's wife claims she is "lookin' for Curley". Inferring she is cautious and reserved towards George and Lennie.

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 is treated with very little respect because of the small amount of power she has, which depicts Steinbeck’s lesson that people with less power are treated differently and then go on to treat others unequally, as well. Curley’s wife has a flirty reputation and often goes to talk to the men on the ranch even though she knows she shouldn't be. Shortly after Lennie and George are first introduced to Curley’s wife, George remarks, “Gosh, she was purty.” George is shocked and fiercely tells Lennie, “Don't you even take a look at that bitch. 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. You leave her be”(Steinbeck 32). Lennie’s initial reaction of Curley’s wife is not uncommon for the lack of intelligence he has. George’s fierce attitude toward Curley’s wife when he calls her

The perceptions we make of Curley's wife are corrupted from the views of the ranch hands. Because sexuality is her only weapon she is referred to by George as 'jailbait' and ' a tart' 'Jesus what a tramp.' George has reason to be weary of her presence especially with Lenny around and the incident in Weed. 'Listen to me you crazy bastard...Don't you even look at that bitch. He is concerned about Lennie safety because he knows he won’t be able to resist her.

A moral lesson would be to not judge someone before you get to really know them. There might be more to them than you think. In the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the two main characters George and Lennie look for work on a ranch. There’s only one woman on the ranch and that is Curley’s wife. Throughout the novel Steinbeck shows how Curley’s wife is viewed by the men. They think poorly of her and believe her to be nothing but an unfaithful floozy. She only strays from Curley because she feels lonely and neglected. She’s bitter that she missed an opportunity to make it big in the movies. She is now stuck on a ranch with a husband she doesn’t love. She takes all this bottled emotion and projects it at the workers in forms of

The last event that was influenced by Curley’s wife is Lennie’s death. In fact, she was the cause of it. After having killed her, Lennie escaped to the pond, just like George had said. George looked for him and had to kill him, otherwise he would have been killed in a much more violent way by Curley or one of the other men on the

Curley’s wife - a flirtatious, mysterious women in the novel. She is the only women that is described by Steinbeck in the novel. How we call her- “Curley’s wife” shows that she is just a possession of Curley. And the others names that George and Candy had given to her are “looloo; jailbait; tart”; these names show how badly she was treated in the ranch particularly and the sexism in American society in 20s - 30s generally.

”Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

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

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.

Throughout the novella Curley’s Wife is objectified and treated like she is a possession. On page 77 Steinbeck writes, “looking in was Curley’s Wife. Her face was heavily made up. Her lips slightly parted.” She is always referred in the novella as ‘Curley’s Wife’ never as anything else. Steinbeck is showing her as a possession

He has used this by using the quote '' The ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very mo 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

In Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men" Curly's wife to me felt like a victim. Curly's Wife never able to actually talk to anybody, or do anything with anyone because they thought she was trouble. No one listened to her when she needed to vent on someone.

Curley’s wife does not really portray the character in the book. I believe that this has to do with the sound of each character which can change your opinion about a character like Lennie and Curley’s wife. Overall she acts more loving in the movie than what is shown in the book. Curley himself acts that same in the book and in the movie. He is still the same person that is mean and is always meant to everyone including his wife. Slim is also the same. In the book, he is very chill and calm. Same in the movie. In the movie, he is very chill. But in the movie, he does not seem more powerful at all than what was portrayed in the book. In the book, he is called the prince of the ranch, but in the movie, he is still powerful but it is not shown very