Curley's Wife Women

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Recommended: Contribution of women in literature

In the texts 'Of mice and men' and 'The Death of a Salesman' women are portrayed similarly, as inhuman, useless possessions or corrupting forces, using the characters 'Linda' and 'The Woman' in Death of a Salesman, and 'Curley's Wife' and 'The girl in Weed' from Of Mice and Men.

In Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men women are portrayed as discriminated. At the time of the novel, women were thought of as inhuman and they where just there to serve the men. THe character 'Curley's Wife' in the novel of mice and men is a victim of this. She is married to Curley who neglects her and because of her loneliness she is always seeking attention. She wears too much make up and dresses like a 'Whore' with red fingernails and red shoes. Red could be showing passion for things she loves, like acting, or foreshadowing the danger she brings later in the novel. She is often refered to as 'jail bait' by george as women in these days were known to tempt men to have an affair with them, the claim they have raped them and get them in trouble.

The readers initial portrayal of Curley's wife shows her to be a mean and seductive temptress. She is paralleled to eve from the bible. The same way eve tempted Adam, Curley's wife destroyed the dream of george and Lennie owning land. As we go through the book, she show she is actually just misunderstood and wants to be noticed. This is the same as most women in Death of a Salesman, like The Woman, who is first shown to be a temptation to willy, but she actually does like him. This relates to the scene in which Lennie is talking to Curley's wife in the barn, she admits she is just lonely, as none of the men will talk to her. She tells him about her dream, and how she did not want to marry Curley. Steinbeck really make...

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...!' Willy is trying to put Linda in her place, to show her whos boss, and she has no place in such a matter. He does this on many occasions. In the same way, Crooks in Of Mice and Men tells Curley's wife 'You have no right to be in here' About his bunk house. This is significant because Crooks is a man of few rights, yet even he feels he is above her in the ranks, though she is quick to put him down.

So, in conclusion, Miller and Steinbeck both portray women similarly. They use a variety of different ways to show how the characters they use to show this are seen, like dialogue and stage directions. Compared to modern day, many reader would be horrified to see such discriminatory language and actions towards women, because its is so different to modern society. I think the treatment of the women in both these texts is very unfair, but was common in the 1930's America.

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