Although Curley's wife was a beautiful young lady, she did not get exactly what she wanted. Curley, her own husband, does not give her the attention she needs and goes out with the “the boys” and not with her wife. Curley’s wife did not want live in this condition as she much rather wanted to be in movies and shows. Curley’s wife would boast to Crooks, Lennie, and Candy on how “‘[Curley’s Wife] could've went with shows” and goes on on how “ [Curley’s wife] was a natural”’ (Steinbeck 86) . Unfortunately this was not able to happen as she never got the letter from the man, she blamed her mom on hiding the letter from her. So Curley's wife moved out from her mom and tried to make her dreams come true. That same night Curley's wife decided to
Curley’s wife comes off as a provocative, flirtatious, lustful woman, but is really hiding her true identity as a depressed and lonely person. Throughout the book Curley’s wife does show her true identity, but still tries to stay positive and deal with the bad hand she was dealt. Curley’s wife is a prime example of even though your life took a wrong turn that you shouldn’t give up. Curley’s wife may of been depressed, but she still tried to communicate everyday with someone no matter what they said to her.
Curley’s Wife was probably one of the loneliest characters of all. She never talked to anyone and she never really liked Curley all too much. “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” (p.86) Curley’s Wife seems to get a lot of the other guys in trouble. Curley always suspects that she’s fooling around with the other men, “Any you guys seen my wife?” (p.53) Curley’s Wife always gives an excuse to confront the guys saying, “Any you guys seen Curley?” Then she tries to hang around and make conversation. The guy’s see her as a tramp and a troublemaker but all she wants is someone to talk too.
Curley’s Curley’s wife represents her broken dreams of becoming an actress. Lennie and George represent a dream in progress, it is uncertain if their plans will work out as intended or plummet before takeoff, even Crooks and Candy see the appeal in Lennie and George’s fantasy and join them. The dream in progress gives hope to Lennie and George and continued to even after losing previous jobs. Curley’s wife is constantly restricted, she married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but now is in the same state as before, just on a ranch of men.
In a world dominated by men, how will one woman fight the animosity of others just to find a friend? John Steinbeck's celebrated novel Of Mice and Men explores this theme of loneliness in the backdrop of the Great Depression, centering on the unrelenting friendship of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small. While the focus is on the duo's comradery, the reader sees glimpses of other characters who are equally as compelling. One of whom is Curley's Wife. Within this story, Steinbeck excellently crafts a tragic figure whose backstory reveal, search for companionship, and two-sided interactions with various characters - particularly Lennie - pave the way for a harrowing character arc that ends on a gruesome note.
Steinbeck also presents another view of Curley’s wife. In his omniscient description [form: overall writing technique] of her, he writes that she ‘bridles a little’ at Lennie’s attention; she is metaphorically shying away from the fixated attention. Steinbeck also unobtrusively mentions that she is a ‘girl’; both these observations suggest her innocence and vulnerability.
Curley’s wife’s femininity may be seen as her greatest weakness or flaw to most, but she rapidly discovers that it is also her only weapon on the ranch and learns to use it to her advantage. Therefore, she puts up an alluring and sultry front in an attempt to receive attention, because she is aware that none of the men on the farm respect her because of her position as a woman. The men's blatant lack of respect for her belittles the miniscule amount of power she has acquired
In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her.
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
Steinbeck describes Curley's Wife as a very friendly young women. For example, when Steinbeck describes her when she says, “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” (31). When reading this, one can learn that Curley’s Wife is a very friendly women who is just looking for someone to talk to. She is forced to live on the farm and needs to find something to do, or someone to talk to while she is stuck there.
For basically the entire book except the ending, I thought “Mice of Men” was very boring and had a lack of excitement that did not help me want to continue reading. I thought that the book was from the beginning leading up to something bigger and in the end which upon reading I found that it was. Once again this book was set in a later time period where women had fewer rights and status which is why I believe Curley’s wife did not have a name and was referred to as Curley’s wife the entire book. I also think that in a way John Steinbeck was foreshadowing the that Lennie would do something bad again by making it so that George sets a place where Lennie would go if something were to happen. When George, Lennie, and Candy were all talking about
For example, she is countlessly called a “tart” and “jailbait” by some of the ranch workers. The workers call her offensive names because she flaunted her legs, pushed her shoulders back and pushed out her chest in front of the workers (Steinbeck 31). These actions could make it seem like she is interested in the other men and is being unloyal to Curley. Curley’s wife is alone often since she lives on a ranch with all men and no friends. In the text, when Curley’s wife goes into Crook’s room to talk the guys, she says, “Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in awhile? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” ( Steinbeck 77). This quotation is important because it shows that Curley’s wife is just a lonely girl and wants someone to talk to her and give her attention. That ultimately caused her death, because she sought attention from Lenny who ultimately killed her accidentally. (Steinbeck
In conclusion I believe that Curley’s Wife is a very significant character in the novella because she represents the stereotypical woman and they way she acted, and was treated leads me to feel great sympathy for her despite her flirtatious demeanour. Steinbeck is very successful in creating sympathy throughout her character change and he presents her in this way to prove that the majority of women went through similar situations. This leads us to sympathise with all people society deem to be ‘inferior’ and we can even apply this lesson to today’s society.
In this paper I will talk about some information that I have obtained from reading Mary Piphers, Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls and give my view on some of her main points and arguments. I also will discuss why I feel Mary Pipher’s views on the toxic influence of media are accurate, and that it does affect adolescent girls. This paper will also point out the importance of Mary Pipher’s studies on the problems that today’s female teens are facing and why I feel they are important and cannot be ignored.
Curley’s wife represents every woman in society who is insecure in life in someway; therefore, eroding people and society’s trust. Meaning they are lead by their insecurities to do things that they shouldn’t do; therefore, causing people and society to lose trust in the insecure person. Specifically, Curley’s wife is insecure because of how her life is rather than how it could’ve been. Subsequently, this leads to regret, which is contagious like the flu: regret leads to her doing things and acting out in ways that she shouldn’t; therefore, she is receiving attention from others. Just like all the other women in society she had her life picked for her; this makes her feel like she has no power over her own life so she tries to do things
From her first appearance in the story, Curley’s wife is described as a different kind of threat, one who is all artifice and manipulation from her red lips and fingernails to her red mules, “on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers” (Steinbeck 31). The imagery Steinbeck uses, paints her as a woman who is quite bold, but fragile with a passionate essence.