The Theme Of Adversity In Of Mice And Men

Curley’s Wife was a subject of Prejudice because she was a woman. During the 1930’s a woman’s place was to be at home raising a family, also women were seen as second class citizens and property of their husbands. Before we meet Curley’s Wife, the reader already has an opinion of her because of what the character Candy calls her- “jail bait”; George calls her a “tramp”. It’s implied that she is a tart and a promiscuous woman; she craves the attention her husband doesn’t give her.

By looking more closely at the story, one can see that Curley’s wife is also a metaphor which symbolizes the way which other people looked upon women in the society of the 1930’s. Curley’s wife represents a whole marginalized group in the American society at that time. In the novel, characters are never fully developed, but instead appear as outlines or symbols of real people. Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife represent the discriminated groups of age, race, and sex. Curley’s wife has been given an overall picture in the eyes of George and Lennie before they even meet her, by Candy. The picture Candy paints about her hints at how she tends to give all the men on the ranch ‘the eye’. Nobody really knows Curley’s wife because nobody ever talks to her and listens to what she really has to say. Curley’s wife wants attention. She wants people to notice her. She is the only woman on the ranch out of all the men. She wears fancy clothes and nice make up to make her look beautiful and

She has no friends and no one takes the time to listen to her. As the only woman on the ranch she has nobody to turn to. Curley doesn’t appreciate her or take the time to talk to her. When she goes to Crook’s stable her emotions overtake her and she admits her loneliness, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in awhile? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (77) She is always stuck in the house either alone or with Curley. Curley just ignores her and doesn't give her the attention that she wants. So she finds it from other men. As the only woman she has only the workers for company. She is isolated and all alone. She only gets attention when she flirts with the men, nobody appreciates her for anything else. They all know she’s unfaithful and flirty, so when alone with her they take advantage of her. The men on the ranch only give her attention if it is to flirt with her,“”If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk...Ever’ one of you’s scared the rest is goin’ to get something on you.”” (77) The guys on the ranch only pay attention to her when they are alone with her. So they can mess around with her without the other workers knowing. They especially don’t want Curley to find out. It’s hard for Curley’s wife to feel at home on the ranch when no one wants to be her friend.

This demonstrates how Curley’s wife’s uses her attraction of her body to achieve her desired outcome over the men, thus showing how Curley’s wife goes through the temporary nature of the shifts and notions of power to control the other men while having her life influenced by her husband.

Curley’s wife perfectly represents the “average woman” in America in the 1930s. She would like to depend less on her husband, she has a fantasy of becoming a renowned actress and she feels secluded and miserable. She has to live in a

Even though Crooks, a black stable hand, has been around the Ranch longer than most people and he is still probably one of the most lonely. This lack of contact with other people has made him severely bitter especially when people enter his personal space. He creates his personal space with books because it helps him cope with the loneliness. So when Lennie tries to befriend him he freaks out by exclaiming, “You got no right to come in to my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in her but me.”(68) In addition to Crooks being lonely he is also segregated from all the other workers. He lives in the barn with the animals instead of the bunkhouse with the others. It’s also very hard for Crooks to associate with the others, because during the time period blacks are seen as a lower class of people. When Crooks states, “Guys don’t come in to a colored man’s room very much.”(75) It shows how little contact he has with the others because of how segregated he is. This segregation mirrors the Jim Crow laws that were active during this period. Crooks’s treatment on the ranch represents the racial discrimination against blacks in

Although Of Mice and Men definitely teaches young students about how the setting was set up back then, the themes of abuse and death included could be found highly inappropriate or offensive to young students today. These themes arise from the multiple abusive and gory deaths of characters throughout the novel. For example, the novel included a reoccurring scene of murder of innocent animals by Lennie including mice and puppies. Some readers are not able to handle such grimness, therefore finding it repugnant or simply unacceptable. Readers with their own pets may also feel a terrible sense of guilt and repulsiveness by simply reading the novel. Another example is portrayed when Lennie violently kills Curley’s wife by shaking her to death.

The character Crooks is not accepted due to the fact that he is an African American male in a white dominated society. The ranch owner has Crooks segregated from the rest of the workers, and in his own separate room. All of the people treat him unfairly by the things they say to him just because of the color of his skin. Referring to Crooks as the n-word quite often, they only see this situation from their point of view. “‘Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger’” (20). Because of these characteristics of Crooks he is lower than the typical man in society. Crooks also does not fit society’s ideal image of a person because he is also handicap. When Crooks was younger he was kicked in the back by a horse, and now he has a crooked back. “‘Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him’” (20). One night, when George and all the other guys went out to town, they left Lennie behind at the barn with the puppies. Later on, Lennie found his way into Crooks’ bedroom in the back of the barn. Of course it was different at first, and they did not seem

“He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again” (Pg. 106). “Of Mice and Men” is written by John Steinbeck and was published in 1937. The book was written during the Great Depression, which shows in the book the conflict for getting work. In the book the two main characters are Lennie Smalls and George Milton, and they are the best of friends. The only thing off is that Lennie is not all there, he is not normal. Some of the issues Lennie has is what leads them to leave to the farm. Lennie always seems to make things more difficult for George, but George still protects him and cares for him. In “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck explains how he does not think the American Dream is achievable, that something

Curley’s wife, who is never given a name, but always called “Curley’s wife”, is shown with a lot of sexual prejudice. She is referred to as a “looloo” (51) with a very flirtatious nature and “she got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody”, and she might “even gives the stable buck they eye” (51). A "ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like

In Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ set in 1930’s, both Crooks and Curley’s wife are defenseless victims of social prejudice which leads to their sadness and depression. Crooks, being a black man is discriminated and segregated towards by all the other ranchers “They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black- Crooks” whereas Curley’s wife being a woman is expected to stay at home and take care of the house “Why don't she get the hell back in the house where she belongs- Carlson”. Furthermore Steinbeck as well as the ranchers view Curley’s wife as “trouble” in Candy’s words and she is later referred as ‘jail-bait’ and ‘tramp’ by other men. Consequently both Crooks and Curleys wife choose to express their hurt in different ways: Crooks holes up in his room with his books in order to escape the harsh reality where he is treated as an outcast while Curley's wife does so by clamoring for attention and desperately trying to be noticed either by creating ‘trouble’ or flirting with the ranchers.

This dream left Curley’s wife with an unfulfillment within herself as she would breathlessly claim ,”I tell ya I could of went to shows…not just one neither,” when around the other men (Steinbeck 78). This is her defense towards the farm laborers consciously for Curley’s wife to feel better since she beheld an impressive chance. Whereas, this dream was in the hands of a male figure who saw potential in the young woman which only ended with Curley’s wife’s remark, “I never got that letter...and I thought my old lady stole it and I could not stay where I was stuck,” as for Curley’s wife she remained stuck in only a different way (Steinbeck 88). After Curley’s wife’s dream was destroyed she became the product of a female environment and married into a family with money, thus she gained substantial funds but her hopes of being on the spot light faded into the background. This exemplifies how the world is not created for aspiring women in this era and how easy being the victim of the world stands for women similar to Curley’s wife as she blamed her old lady for holding her back. Even more, the accusal can show the minute amount of faith within the household and also the minimal faith of the figures in Curley’s wife completely as low expectations are accounted for

Some may think it is just sexism at its finest that determines the books way of calling Curley’s wife as Curley’s and nameless from there on out, but that is not the only resort to the name calling. Curley’s wife is not happy with Curley, maybe the relationship started off good at first but Mrs.Curley realizes that her marrying Curley was really just isolating herself from the rest of the word and gave her no say in her own life. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…" (102) Curley’s wife seems to never be fully heard by anyone in the ranch on what she wants in her life or her opinions on others. This caused her prejudice because even to George and Lennie Mrs.Curley was just “Curley’s wife” and still had no say or opinion in what she was talking about. This later cost her her own life when Lennie fails to listen to her cries when he accidentally choked her to

Most if not all the characters in Of Mice and Men can be seen as

Loneliness affects Crooks and Curley’s wife through their actions and how they live. Curley’s wife is portrayed as a sexual and inappropriate woman to other men in the novella because of her makeup and behavior. Her makeup is a mask covering her real self –lonely and living a life of solitude. Even though she is married, not once do we see Curley’s wife and her husband together. Curley is going to a whore house every Saturday and his wife acts subtle about it. We