The Conversation Of Curley's Wife By John Steinbeck

In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character Lennis is a big, tall man who is described as a "big baby" because he has a mental condition that makes him act childish. The character referred to as Curley 's wife, is a petite and pretty lady. She is known to be a troublemaker and does not act the way a "normal" wife would. Although the two characters are very different, they share the feeling of being left out and alone.

Curley’s Wife maybe was no good to anybody on the ranch, even Curley. But how does she feel about this? She can’t talk to anyone but Curley, a man she doesn’t even like. Curley’s Wife is a lonely character that was once destined for stardom. “Wha’s the matter with me?”

Curley's wife desires to be the center of attention. She does this because she bases her self worth on what others think, but others do not think highly of her. Despite having a husband, she flirts with every man on the farm. She hates Curly and this is her way of breaking the restraints Curly has implemented in her. Along with being egotistical, she is also an irritable woman who is bitter because her dreams of being a movie star were shattered by her repressive mother. Being on a secluded farm with an overprotective and violent husband is her worst nightmare. She craves the spotlight and attention, but nobody will dare speak to her in fear of her husband. Without people telling her how perfect she is, she becomes violent and threatens people, specifically Crooks. She threatens him with lynching because he is the only Negro on the farm. Curley's wife is slowly going insane from the isolation that the farm brings. She acts out because of the way others have treated her. Nonetheless, she is still a selfish and frustrated

Curley’s wife is one of these characters, whom could be identified by many literary lenses. However, we will focus on one lens, the Gender lens. First off, while everyone in the story has a name or nickname, even Crooks, Curley’s Wife is never given a name. She is the only

It is said that it takes two months to get attached to a someone. In Of Mice and Men, characters spend well over two months with each other. Attachment is a prevalent theme throughout the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck encompasses elements of day to day struggles in the 1930’s through relationships and minor characters through the attachment they have. The theme of attachment is seen through the relationship between Lenny and George, the relationship between Candy and his dog, and lastly the actions of Curley’s wife.

Marriage usually occurs when two people are deeply in love. This was not the case for Curley 's wife. Curley 's wife explains to Lennie, “I don’ like Curley. He ain 't a nice fella” (Steinbeck 89). According to the quote, Curley 's wife does not like her own husband! She was forced into marrying a guy she doesn 't truly love. Curly would abuse her, use her as bragging rights, and never spend time with his wife. Curley even had a glove filled with Vaseline so one of his hands could be soft for touching his wife. This is abusive because he talked about him and his wife’s sex life with the other ranchers. Since the other men on the ranch did not have a love, Curley uses his wife to his advantage by using her as bragging rights. It is unfortunate and disturbing what Curley’s wife had

Curley’s wife is not dedicated to Curley as she has the eye for other men (pg 28, p4). Evidently Curley’s wife isn’t loyal to him as she doesn’t bother hiding her interest in other people. Since she has no dedication to him, their partnership is broken. Curley’s wife doesn’t care about Curley at all which is shown when he gets into a fight and she expresses her appreciation of him getting injured (pg 81, p11). She has no respect for her husband and doesn’t show any concern for him. It is further proof that they do not have a true relationship. However, it goes both ways as Curley doesn’t trust his wife at all. He automatically assumes that she is making romantic advances on Slim when he can’t find her around the ranch (pg 54, p6). Without even thinking twice about it, Curley believes the worst of his wife and that she has no devotion at all. The act displays that there is no trust between the two of them and they do not have a strong bond. Ergo, Curley and his wife confirm that loyalty is needed in order for there to be a strong relationship between people.

While Crooks, a victim of racial prejudice, expresses his isolation openly, he also socializes with other workers on the job and while playing horseshoes with them. Curley’s wife, on the other hand, cannot talk to anyone without suffering the consequences of a jealous husband: “ I get so lonely,’ she said. “you can talk to people , but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (87) More specifically, the other men on the ranch refuse to talk to her because Curley’s position of power on the ranch portrays him as having the ability to have any man on the ranch lose their job. Furthermore, when Curley’s wife was conversing with Lennie in the barn and confided in him, she said: “Well, I ain’t

People who face great odds will hang on to hope, however, many will lose it to the cruel reality they live in. This is the story told in the novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. In this novel, Lennie and George are traveling bindle stiffs who experience the losses that come with the Great Depression, and the hope of others that is dashed by the death of one person. This theme of hope and loss is shown through Curley's wife, Candy, and George.

Of Mice and Men provides us with plenty examples of dehumanization that guide us to conclusions, or insights or feelings of dehumanization. Some examples of this is the dehumanization of Lennie, Crooks and Curley’s wife. Of Mice and Men perfects the traits of dehumanization of Lennie by relating him to a number of animals like the horse. Steinbeck dehumanizes Lennie by comparing him to a horse when George says, “His huge companionship dropped his baskets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse” (Steinbeck, 2). Furthermore, Steinbeck helps us, by dehumanizing Crooks, living in a barn, to animals, to visualize how poorly Crooks is treated. To prove this, Crook says, “ ‘Cause I’m black.

“I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella… Coulda been in the movies.”(Steinbeck 89). The book Of Mice and Men, which is written by John Steinbeck, has its main focus on an all-male ranch with a lone female. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is different from all the other characters which makes her unique. Curley’s wife has power, but can also be the subject of it. The impression of Curley’s wife definitely has an impact on the impression of women as well.

Furthermore, one of the most interesting roles in the ensemble of characters is Curley’s wife: her name is never mentioned in the book, as a reminder that she feels completely anonymous and useless, since her role is not recognised by none of the other characters. Her self-obsession probably originates from her desperate and unfulfilled need of validation. Someone may argue that her character is designed only as a tool for the development of the story, but her strong personality goes beyond this function.

She confesses to him her dislike for Curley. The reader can't know for sure if Curley realizes he is disliked by his spouse. Despite this, his controlling behavior towards his wife speaks volumes. If Curley feels the need to monitor his wife afraid she'll cheat, he may well know she despises him. This yet again, is another blow to his self-esteem. His wife also states,”So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night.” (88) Curley's wife is saying this in reference to her mother being controlling. She decides to marry Curley to get away from her mom. Curley was basically used as an escape route, or alternative. They weren't in love. The reason Curley probably even wanted to marry her was for companionship. Sadly, no matter how much time the two spend together, it will always be resentment on her

Curley’s wife didn’t marry Curley out of love, she only married him because it was the best her life was going to get.

Humans are connected with one another through simple gravity-like forces that are ubiquitous and powerful, but in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the characters isolate themselves. While the english poet John Donne once said that “No man is an island”, his contemporary John Milton believed that “Solitude sometimes is best society”. So, which is true? In both books the characters act as if they are“islands”, but this does not create the “best society”.The characters’ detached isolation toward one another causes them to end up feeling empty and disconnected. In both Of Mice and Men and The Outsiders characters build mental barriers to protect themselves