For instance, the men on the ranch speculate that Curley’s wife intends trouble and an affair because she is constantly looking for the men on the ranch in the bunkhouse or stable, places she has no business in without her husband. However, Curley’s wife confesses her everyday life when she tells Crooks, Old Candy, and Lennie that she enjoys talking to them rather than talking to nobody (Steinbeck 78). In addition, she discloses to them that Curley gives her little regard and that she loathes staying in their small house all the time. As a result of the lack of attention she receives, she utilises her young and seducing looks to obtain it from any body. Steinbeck writes Curley’s wife as isolated like the lonely ranch men that come and go which appeals to the readers’ feelings.
She is shown as lonely and promiscuous in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. When looking at the way that she acts toward other characters, it is evident that Curley’s wife is often the root of many problems. She caused her husband to doubt his men and to isolate her. Due to her licentiousness and loneliness, Curley’s wife ultimately gets herself killed in the end of the book. Her death was a tragedy, but when paired with her personality, makes for an interesting plot for the story.
Curley’s wife was not the first, nor is she the last woman to experience objectification and isolation due to her anatomy. Steinbeck displayed the vicious cycle of sexism and how the demands of man conspire against morality of man. Curley’s wife was pretty and sought after by some, but seen as dirty and dangerous to others. Her appearance made her desirable but her resistance in submitting entirely deemed her unattractive or dangerous, just as many real women are
Curley’s Wife possesses one of the boldest introductions in the novella. Moments before her initial appearance “a brake screeched outside”. This harsh onomatopoeia warns readers of her character. Such foreshadowing is repeated when “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off” upon her arrival. Seeing as light connotes hope,
When we look into all of that we can conclude that she is lonely, she has no one to talk to no friends and no family she has no one except fir husband who doesn’t give her any attention, throughout the whole novella never do we ever see him and his wife encountering each other they are always looking for each other. She is looking for him, or he is looking for her, they are never together. So, I don’t blame her for what she is doing her life is not what she expected it to be she had hopes and dreams were crushed and ruined when she married Curley just like her death ruined and crushed George and Lennie’s hopes and
She was only written with negative character traits which made it so characters or readers were never able to sympathize with her. Next, no character ever had a turning point where they saw Curley’s wife as more than exactly that, Curley’s wife. And finally, he never gave her a name. There was a great imbalance between sexism and making the readers question the sexism. If Steinbeck had chosen to give the woman some justice the message against sexism would have been stronger.
Curley’s wife has always been taught to sell her-self, whether it was to a road show or into the hands of a husband. Richard Hart recognizes that Curley’s wife is more like a store bought good, rather than an actual wife and writes, “Curley’s wife views herself as a commodity, and an object of sensuality” (36). Curley’s wife’s dream was to be an actress on a traveling road show, but she is too ignorant to realize that that dream is long gone and selling herself is not in the least bit attractive or becoming of a young woman. Stein-beck characterizes the men on the ranch as male chauvinists who cannot fathom a woman ever being half as important as themselves. “Curley’s wife stands as a glaringly bitter and ironic illus-tration of the immorality of narrow minds and the social conditions that produce them” (Hart 39).
Curley’s Wife is the only major female in Steinbeck’s novel, and as such, she represents all women in this short parable about how futile dreams are. Is she solely responsible for the end of George and Lennie’s dream, or is she just a misunderstood character? She is perhaps one of the more complex characters – neither ‘all bad’ like Curley, or ‘all good’ like Slim. In this passage, Steinbeck uses two main techniques to present Curley’s Wife: the symbolism of colour and his description of her. The symbolism of the colour red cannot escape us: she has ‘rouged’ lips and ‘red’ fingernails; her mules are red and they are covered with ‘red’ ostrich feathers.
An example of this is Curley and his wife’s relationship. From the moment Curley’s wife was introduced, the reader got an idea about their poor relationship. Her bad relationship with Curley is shown when she says, “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella” (Steinbeck 89). The reader learns that she only married Curley out of spite toward her mother, and they truly do not love each other.
Through Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy, John Steinbeck had used his way to state how those characters had endured their loneliness throughout the book “Of Mice and Men”. Curley’s wife would not be a pleasant character in many ways. As a wife of manager’s son, she was described as a charming and flirty woman and treated others with scorn. However, her appearances later had shown actually she was just an immature, innocent and lonely woman who missed her chance to be a successful movie star in Hollywood and compelled to marry Curley. “If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet” (Steinbeck 84) Accordingly, she felt unfair for her life and doesn’t want to get stuck on the ranch but she knew she could do nothing about it.