Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Essay

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Throughout Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, variegated explicit and implicit themes are introduced to the readers. Possibly the most significant theme in the novel is the desire for the American dream, which speaks of a life as a free person with his or her own property and an ability to experience a number of comforts in life. The interpretation of the American dream delineated in this novel reveals the underlying human struggle to break free from any chains of oppression, regardless of the magnitude of the subjugation. This oppression, ubiquitous in the novel and in the real world, presents an arduous challenge for all people and catalyzes them to confront and attempt to eradicate it. Contrasting with the other characters in the story and their sometimes trivial desires, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife in …show more content…

To Curley, she is property, and to the other men, she is a whore and a beacon of conflict. Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch and is constantly commanded by others to stay in her house all day and avoid communication, actions that display the lack of importance a woman is seen to have on the ranch (81). These unfavorable conditions Curley’s wife has to endure invoke in her a desire for freedom, an idea which she discusses in a catharsis to Lennie. She loses her cool composure and begins to scream, ‘“Wha’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?’” (87). Curley’s wife’s outpour of emotion is followed by a delineation of her dream life. In this dream, she envisions herself as independent and comfortable (89). Curley’s wife’s desire for the American dream causes her to make the risky decision to converse with the men on the ranch, a decision that can be detrimental to her, as she is Curley’s

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