Essay Curley's Wife Character Analysis

The author Dean Koontz once said, “...the most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another.” Although there are many hopeful aspects in people, the inhumanity of people is inevitable. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small and George Milton discover the hardships and the hope in life as migrant workers during the Depression era. Though their hope for a better life dwindles throughout their journey, Lennie and George’s dream of owning their own farm help to distract them from their harsh reality of despondency. Steinbeck reveals the bitter nature of mankind due to weakness and vulnerability through his use of symbolism, characterization, and imagery.

Of Mice of Men was written by John Steinbeck and was an interpretation of the Great Depression and its effects on the people. The Great Depression is the economic recession and it began on 1929 and lasted till 1939. It was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. Each character represented the person that was affected by the Depression. Lennie represented the mentally disabled, Curley’s Wife represented the women, Crooks represented the black, Candy represented the disable, George represented the average worker, but to an extent and Curley represented the rich.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George makes a decision in which he decides what is better for everyone. This decision has him kill his childhood friend. George’s actions were justified because he considered everyone his decision might affect. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George’s actions were justified because he saved Lennie from torture, not ever experiencing happiness, and he did what benefitted society and Lennie.

Curley used this as an excuse to kill Lennie. He really wanted to kill Lennie because he destroyed his hand though. Curley said he was going to blow Lennie's guts out and make him suffer and be in pain. George prevented this by shooting Lennie in the back of the head and ending him quickly. George killed lennie because if he didn’t, Curley would have made him suffer.

Archetypes are a manifestation of how our minds envision the roles of characters, these characters come in the form of the hero, villain, temptress, damsel, monster, and mentor. In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, we follow the story of two men who struggle to pull through to survive horrible times, on their journey they come across other characters that fulfill the roles of the archetypes. The archetype in discussion is the villain archetype which is the evildoer of a story usually a person who commits a crime against society or against a couple of people. One character in particular that fills the archetype of the villain is Curley, he has an aura of evil that resonates from his attitude and his actions, which triggers people

Surly is defined as being “bad-tempered and unfriendly.” This is the perfect definition for the curly-haired antagonist of Of Mice and Men. Most will say there is no justification behind Curley's hostility. He was rude to Lennie upon meeting him, was controlling over his wife, he attacked Lennie, didn't mourn his wife's death, and arranged for Lennie's murder. While you can sum up that Curley is a total jerk and deserves punishment, you can also analyze the text further. Upon further analysis, you can find some humanity, or reasoning behind Curley's actions. Remember, this text is extremely biblical, and as Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Someone once said, “A villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told.” The character known as Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men is portrayed in John Steinbeck’s writing as an antagonist. Multiple time throughout the book she is insulted by the men, who call her things such as a tramp, or a tart. As the story continues, there are many hidden indications that she could be seen as a much simpler, innocent presence, rather than an evil. When looked at more in depth, Curley’s Wife can be seen as a victimized character.

Q: “’God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble… An’ whatta I got,’ George went on furiously. ‘I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get... You crazy son-of-a-bitch… I wisht I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun.’” (Steinbeck 10).

In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novel was justified. George and Lennie were best friends, and have been since they were little. They got ran out of Weed(the old farm they used to work at) for harassing a girl and not letting her go. He was just scared from her screaming and kicking. He didn’t mean to harm, or scare her. And then about a year later when Lennie accidentally killed Curley’s wife, the whole farm was after him. George shot him in the temple of his head for a quick and painless death. Lennie had to be killed because he didn’t know his own strength. And he was too dumb to realize what he was doing. Also Curley and Carlson would’ve tortured Lennie and then killed

People today with mental disabilities are often criticized for not being “up to par” with everyone else in the world. This is true especially in the 1920’s, in which the novel Of Mice and Men takes place. Take Lennie Small for example, a large and hefty man, who has a mental disability. He, as a character, is blamed for the heinous act of murdering the antagonist’s wife, whose name is never revealed. It is true that Lennie does fracture her neck, but he does so without knowing. For this reason, along with many others, Lennie is not to blame in any case involving his acts of violence in this novel, because of various, indisputable reasons. These include the red dress incident in Weed, crushing Curley’s hand, and the aforementioned murder of Curley’s wife, all of which prove Lennie’s innocence.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck many hard decisions were made. In this novel two Characters George and Lennie get kicked out of their last city and travel to soledad to start their new life. Lennie causes lots of commotion at the ranch which turns people against George and Lennie. At the end of the novel George kills Lennie which raises the question if he fairly weighed all of the options and if his choice was justified or condemned. One reason why this was a justified decision is that George only wanted the best for his best friend. Another reason is the ranchers would’ve killed him no matter what so this way George ensured it was fast and painless. On the other hand, this was condemned because George had been saying how his life would be so much better without Lennie and this allowed him to be able to live that life.

Lennie Small is a mentally-challenged man who behaves very childish and doesn't comprehend his physical strength. He frequently gets himself into misfortune and counts on George Milton, practically his family member, to get him out of it. After Lennie ran into some trouble in Weed, the two fled to Soledad where there was an employment opportunity on a ranch. In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, Lennie encounters more trouble in Soledad and George ended up shooting him to liberate Lennie from his inevitable fate. George’s conduct of murdering Lennie can be seen as both justifiable and unethical.

In Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, some people think that George killing Lennie was the right thing to do. Others think that George should’ve tried to save him and run away. George made the correct decision to shoot Lennie because Lennie was a danger to society. Lennie had killed many animals, and then accidentally killed Curley’s wife. All the animals got killed because Lennie didn’t know his own strength.“Lennie never done it in meanness. All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of ‘em mean” (Steinbeck). This shows that Lennie does not mean to hurt people. This quote shows that he’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t realize his strength, his mental strength doesn’t compare to his physical strength. Even though Lennie didn’t mean any harm, he was going to have a painful death if Curley killed him. Lennie would have been lynched anyway. Curley was going to

Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, takes place during the time of The Great Depression; an era extremely difficult for women. The novella contains many iconic characters that serve as a metaphor to our societal standards. Curley’s wife is introduced just like any other; however, the emphasis on her feminine features are metaphoric to where women stand in society. In order to prove that society makes it impossible for certain people to attain The American Dream, Steinbeck objectifies, sexualizes, and kills Curley’s wife to show that women cannot reach The American Dream.

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, legality is often deemed less important than morality in terms of decision making. Multiple characters throughout the novel disregard the law in order to carry out their vision of justice. When Curley, the son of the ranch owner, discovers his wife’s body, he is furious. So furious that he plans to track Lennie, a new employee with an intellectual disability, down and murder him to get revenge for his mistake. Regardless of the law, Curley’s morals based on vengeance and masculinity drive him to kill Lennie. George has very different morals based on protecting Lennie, his travel companion and friend. His ultimate goal of helping Lennie leads to him ending Lennie’s life in order to prevent his suffering at the hands of Curley. The concept that morality takes precedence over the law in certain cases is manifested through the decision of Curley to hunt Lennie down and the decision of George to end Lennie’s life in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.