It is common knowledge that all stereotypes, both positive and negative, are detrimental to everyone’s self-esteem and confidence, but biases that are ingrained in society are hard to resolve. Often times, people gravitate toward those similar to them because of their bias, which only allows the cycle of ignorance to continue. This cycle of ignorance introduces negativity into the world and people are more likely to judge others and themselves too harshly. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, he discusses how people’s feelings of superiority over others only allow stereotypes to remain. Steinbeck’s story follows two migrant workers, George and Lennie, as they try to make a living during the Great Depression. They are odd, in the eyes of the other workers, because they travel together. They meet Curley’s wife, the daughter-in-law of the owner of the ranch, who happens to be the sole woman on the farm. The workers’ colored views of women portray Curley’s wife as a negative character before her true self is revealed later in the book, as she nears her death. Through the worker’s assumptions and diction, Steinbeck demonstrates how negative stereotypes drive negative behaviors and beliefs.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story.
John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, in the Salinas Valley, California. It establishes the prospect of the American Dream, discrimination,loneliness, and disenfranchisement through its characters. George and Lennie provided the value of the American Dream, to which the leading female role, Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. The novella seeks to demonstrate the way of which life was like for the characters of all different statuses and backgrounds. Through Curley’s wife’s character, we are able to see how life was like for a women during
Everyone in this world has a purpose to live to achieve a specific goal. However, while chasing the ultimate result, people have driven their lives into a sky full of success or into a dark void of defeat. Authors Robert Burns, John Steinbeck, and Maya Angelou incorporated real experiences through the stylistic scenarios of paradox to exhibit the truth about achieving goals in life.
In the novella “Of Mice and Men” one of Steinbeck’s central character is Curley’s Wife. Steinbeck presents her as a dangerous and powerful due to his language techniques like metaphor, simile and structure. However in a misogynistic society she can also be seen as a lonely and vulnerable character.
I've chosen to do my essay on "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Written in 1937 this work of literature displays many different stereotypes that help to achieve the author's purpose. Some examples of this are Curley and his temper, Lennie's and his intelligence level, and Curley's wife and her appearance. In this essay I hope to show you how their character helps to successfully accomplish the goals that make this a work of classical literature.
Due to the Great Depression, women’s rights took a back seat to employment and poverty. It was believed that women shouldn’t work but stay at home, clean, cook, and raise their children. The prejudice against women in the society was great back in the 1930s for they were degraded and underestimated. All the rights they had gained in the 1920s were neglected and the women were once again maltreated. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the victim of sexism is Curley’s wife who is so insignifact that even a name was not provided for her. Sexism is shown in the book when Curley’s wife is regarded as a bitch merely owing to the fact that she is flirtatious and wears appealing clothes.
In the story, ‘Of Mice and Men’ Steinbeck uses archetypes To make the story have meaning. Steinbeck plays with the archetypes to show how people do change. To make them more like people and less like characters in a fairytale. Characters like Lennie, Curley’s wife, and George are perfect examples of how people change in either good or bad ways. As we start the story every person seems innocent and quickly changes when their true colors begin to show.
In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, takes place in Soledad California and follows George and Lennie. George and Lennie, who has a cognitive disability had to walk to their new job. They arrived at the Farm and meet all the men, among these people is Candy. He tells them about Curley’s wife and how flirty she is, and George tells Lannie to stay away from her. They also learn that since they were there late the boss took his anger out on an African American man named Crooks. Later in the story Candy joins George and Lennie’s plan to get their own farm, and they only need one more month's pay. Lennie and Curley get into a fight and Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. But Slim saved Lennie by making Curley lie about what really happened to him. Lennie and Crooks talk in Crook’s room and Crooks tells Lennie about the racism that he receives from all of the other men. Later, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife when he was touching her hair, and he runs away. George then finds Lennie and kills him before any of the others can. Discrimination is prevalent throughout the entire story in many
Of Mice and Men is a novella describing a story filled with men except for one, Curley’s wife who lives on a ranch dominated by men. Curley’s wife is a portrayal of all women during the 1930s and the struggles they had to face. She suffers from oppression because she is blamed for distracting the men from doing their work merely because of the way she looks and she is compared to an object. “Curley’s wife” is barely a name for a woman and Steinbeck uses this title for her to dehumanize her and show that she is Curley’s object. She is a female archetype of a temptress representing a sexist view of women.
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 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed allowing women to vote, many women thought that Gender Inequality was coming to an end. Soon after, the Great Depression happened, and everyone was focused on that. Life for women was especially hard then because they had to live in a world full of poverty and discrimination. Throughout Of Mice and Men we see this through Curley’s Wife. She just wants to fit in and talk to the men without thinking she wants something, or being called rude names. We all feel the need to be loved, or included without our gender interfering. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck reveals that people have false expectations based on gender, through the point of view of Curley’s wife.
Misogyny is defined as a prejudice or hatred against women. This concepts plays heavily but this novella also insinuates the power women hold. Although the women that are portrayed are nameless to symbolize their insignificance; they are the ones that shaped many events and ultimately the ending; the one woman that was given the slightest importance was the reason of the novella’s tragic denouement. Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinback, recognizes the hardships and struggles during the Great Depression, but also the loneliness that is fulfilled by women and how they alter the motivation to achieve the American dream.
“She’s gonna make a mess, they’s gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s a jailbait all set on the trigger”. Of Mice and Men show’s George and Lennie’s path to their American dream. They are starting off as laborers in California in the Salina’s Valley and live in a hand-to-mouth lifestyle on a ranch. The novel portrays many male characters than female. The women shown by Steinback are Curley’s Wife, Susy, and Aunt Clara and are given somewhat respect. Even though there are not many female characters, John Steinbeck symbolizes them as archetypes throughout the book he indicates sexism of women being at the bottom of the social hierarchy in a male workplace. Although all women in the novel are portrayed differently, on some level as authority figures, they differ in the amount of respect received
Women in the novella, Of Mice and Men, were treated terrible and poorly. They had a lower status than men and were only considered as objects and caretakers. For example, Curley’s wife was mistreated, given bad names by the men, and her name was not revealed because she did not own an identity and was nonexistent. John Steinbeck portrays that women were objects and caretakers by using indirect characterization and diction.