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John steinbeck and women
Steinbeck's view of women
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At the start of the play, “the four Birling’s and Gerald are seated at the table, with Arthur Birling at one end, his wife at the other”, Priestly here is telling us about the status of women, as Mrs Birling is not equal to her husband so she is removed. Nevertheless it might indicates to that the two parents got control in the family where the older generation is against the younger generation.
When Sheila was getting engaged, she spoke about Gerald and his absence from her, Sybil birling tells her “you’ll have to get used to that, just as I had”, as the reader feels shocked about her mother's response! She knows that Gerald is likely to have a fair, however she tells indirectly and non-verbally that it’s just the way things are. Therefore, it appears that this was probably between her and Mr Birling as there is a hint in the novel that suggest he objectifies women where he thinks clothes "make'em look prettier", showing he is sexist.
Curly's wife show discrimination in society. It used to be $2 for a glass of whiskey and $2.50 to buy a sex with a woman, Steinbeck is telling us about how women are valued. He is showing that this is society
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Ultimately, Candy’s Dog and Lennie reflect each other as they both end up having to be shot for their own good. George always plays cards as this possibly represents the role of luck and fate in the story and so at the end George said “I guess I always knew.” That suggest that fate is always leading Lennie to death as George was always going to end up having to kill him which is represented in the card game. Perhaps Steinbeck uses the suit of “diamond”, in the card game as well to point out the reason men behave so brutally towards each other, is there
Priestley mainly uses the characters in the play to present his views, especially Mr and Mrs Birling, to present his ideas about class and society. In the Birling family, Mrs Birling is the most upper class, and is always referring to the lower class female factory workers such as Eva Smith as ‘girls of that class’. She seems to think that working class people are not humans at all.
At the start of the play, we are introduced to the Birlings who are no
One of the factors that create an imbalance of power within a society is a person's socioeconomic status. Often people with low socioeconomic status are undervalued in society. This imbalance can cause issues with the feelings of security and confidence. Also opportunities and choices can be limited for some people, but expanded to others. People often identify with roles of different socioeconomic status groups, based on their own socioeconomic status, and this can limit creativity and the potential of groups or individuals. If the world believes that people can go from “rags to riches” in America, then there should be an opportunity for all socioeconomic groups.
Several characters in the novel Of Mice and Men are presented with additional obstacles throughout the book. Whether because of color, sex, or disabilities, John Steinbeck purposefully did this to illustrate oppression. Of Mice and Men explores the
You'd think a girl had never had any clothes before she gets married. Women are potty about them." Nevertheless, Priestley wanted men to break away from that mindset and he represents his thoughts through Arthur Birling as he states that clothes are "a sort of sign or token of their self-respect." Additionally, Priestley uses Eva/Daisy to break the stereotypes of women that society had labeled them with. Eva/Daisy rebels against Mr. Birling and fights her cause rather than quietly take everything, which is what people expected her to do. Mr. Birling says that Eva/Daisy was "a good worker" and that the foreman "was ready to promote her". However, Eva/Daisy fought alongside other women in a campaign to receive higher wages and lost her job which went against the stereotype of women being selfish and self-absorbed. Moreover, when Mrs. Birling hears that Eva/Daisy refused the money, she doesn't believe it as she says "as if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money!" This shows Eva/Daisy's morals and her independence as she doesn't need to rely on a
A ‘sharp ring is heard of the front door bell’ interrupting Mr. Birling’s dialogue that explicates “that a man has to make his own way- has to look after himself” as though the ‘sharpness’ of the ring is opposing Birling’s ‘solemnity’ in his words. The stage direction instantly demonstrates juxtaposition between the Birling and the other anonymous individual; this also generates tension because of the fact that the individual is yet to be introduced. Eric felt very ‘uneasy’ after Edna said to Birling that an Inspector has arrived which gives the audience clues of Eric being involved in a crime, Eric’s uneasiness also makes Birling ‘sharply’ stare at Eric- this creates suspense for the audience.
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.
The history of the time the play was written helps us to understand the views and the feelings expressed by Priestley in the play. The inspector transfers Priestley’s views and he shows the difference in social classes at the time. A gap which he wants to diminish. He illustrates the reason for this in the play, via the inspector, where he outlines the ways each of the Birlings have influenced someone from a completely different background and social class. This is the way Priestley viewed pre-war England.
Through his play Priestley endeavoured to convey a message to the audiences, that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He used the Birling family as an example of the Capitalist family that was common amongst the higher classes in 1912, who took no responsibility for other people and he showed this with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector; the uneasy facade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they considered to be lower class could not stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what had happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.
Priestley presents Birling as an ignorant business oriented social climber, who is obsessed with bettering himself in the industrial city of Brumley. This claim is backed up by the fact that on page 7, act one, Birling says that war will be impossible, and the Titanic is unsinkable, which leads the audience of the 1940s to view him as a fool who holds forth about subjects that he does not know about. He is known to be a social climber as on page 8, act 1, he is talking to Gerald about his social status which he obviously cares more about than truth or law.
When Curly’s wife went to Crooks to ask if he has seen Curly around, Curly said that he hasn’t seen him, but still she was standing there and Crooks said, “You got no rights coming in a coloured man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all.” Steinbeck’s use of Crook’s dialogue shows that Crooks had enough pride and independence to stand up to Curly’s wife. She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, Nigger,” she said. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself. Steinbeck uses Curly’s wife’s dialogue to tell the readers that Crooks was always discriminated against. When Lennie was wandering around at the ranch and went into Crook’s room, Crooks said, “You go get outta my rooms. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house and you ain’t wanted in my room.” Steinbeck uses crook’s dialogue, racism and loneliness to demonstrate that Crooks wanted to be left alone, but also from inside he wants to talk to someone. Readers may feel sympathy at Steinbeck’s idea of racism. Crooks was always treated badly and is always discriminated against.
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.
Steinbeck used his novella Of Mice and Men in hopes of bringing to light the injustices in how we treat minorities in our society in hopes of teaching us that we need to be accepting and caring to form a better society. Illustrated by characters symbolizing different minorities then how they are treated by other characters. Through his words he describes how fear of things that are different or our insecurities cause us to treat people unfairly and cruel.
Curley’s wife is a complex, main character in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men”. She is introduced as an insignificant secondary character, but evidently posses the importance of causing the end of the novella. Despite the weight of her role, her value is hindered because of the culture towards women in the 1930s. Steinbeck uses imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphors to show loneliness analyzed through a Feminist Lens.
Mr Birling acts just the same way through the whole play. He is a selfish character that only thinks for himself and his family. “If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it?” Mr Birling only care for himself and takes no responsibility to her death. As we go near the end of the play, he shows that he’s more worried about the money instead of Eva Smith and his grandchild.