How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife
Steinbeck introduces Curley’s wife at the beginning of chapter 2 through Candy’s gossip. Towards the middle of chapter 2 the readers get to meet her for real.
Steinbeck introduces Curley’s wife for the first time when Candy gossips about her to George and Lennie, he calls Curley’s Wife as a “tart”. This means that she is a bit of a whore. Candy also says that he “seen her give Carlson the eye” and “give Slim the eye” this gives the impression that she really is promiscuous and flirtatious. Steinbeck is often criticized as he wants the reader to feel sympathetic towards female characters in his books but yet he always gives them the role of a whore or a housewife. Steinbeck does this to show what society viewed women as and he exaggerates
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She had “roughed lips” and was “heavily made up” this means that she cares about her appearance and wants to look attractive in front of others. In that era women were looked down upon by men because of their sense of fashion as they were viewed as objects belonging to the men and Steinbeck demonstrates this in the way the characters in Of Mice and Men react to her appearance. He also makes this obvious to the reader when Curley’s wife finds out that Curley was in the house and she wasn’t. After using the excuse of “lookin’ for Curley” when she goes to the bunk-house to flirt with the new guys (Lennie and George) and when Slim tells her that he seen him going in her house “she was suddenly apprehensive” giving the impression that Curley will be mad if she is not home when he comes in as in the 1930s women were expected to do nothing apart from the jobs given to them from men. They were not allowed to go out and socialize unless told to do so (especially not socializing with other men).
Steinbeck further introduces her by explaining her appearance and her accent. She wore a “cotton house dress and red mules” on the insteps of the mules she had “red ostrich feathers” and her “fingernails were red”. Red is commonly used to symbolize danger, here Steinbeck is foreshadowing the characteristics of Curley’s wife in the way she dresses and how she is seen by other characters. Her “voice has a nasal, brittle quality”. The word brittle means fragile or
How Does Curley's Wife Change In Of Mice And Men
608 Words | 3 PagesIn the passage it describes the aftermath of Lennie’s murder on Curley’s wife. The passage has her laying in the hay, half covered just like the pup, her lifeless body lay there and it seemed she was in a light sleep. To show this scene and make it come alive, John Steinbeck uses the words, “roughed”, “discontent”, and “ache for attention” ( Steinbeck 93). Curley's wife always had a meanness to her and felt very discontent to her husband who only talked about boxing. This caused her to have an ache for attention which led her to talk to Lennie in her final moments because he is the only one that would listen.
How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife
451 Words | 2 PagesThis is showing the audience that Curley’s wife is trying to show that she wants to be off the farm and on the stage with her unique clothing. This also shows how she doesn’t belong on a farm, or has any care of being on the farm, and wants to be gone. Another way Steinbeck shows how Curley’s wife is hiding the real her by having her say “I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself” (34). This scene portrays her as a city girl wanting to make it big, and isn’t supposed to at the farm all alone.
How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife
410 Words | 2 PagesDespite being the only female on a ranch full of foul-mouthed men, Curley 's wife exploits both her sexuality and her status to demonstrate power throughout the novel. For instance, when first meeting Curley’s wife she attempts to enhance her body for the new men: “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” (31). From Curley’s wife’s actions we learn that since the beginning she finds it necessary to flaunt her body, instead of showing her real personality. Furthermore, she is using her physical attraction to portray an appearance that is automatically seducing in hopes of placing herself above the newly arriving men. After Crooks tells Curley’s wife to get out of the barn, she erupts
Curley's Wife Imagery
1294 Words | 6 PagesSteinbeck creates contrasting images of Curley’s wife by using literary techniques such as pathetic fallacy, juxtaposition and irony. Body 1: When Curley’s wife is first introduced into the novella it isn’t in person, it is through rumours and gossip. Evidence of this is when George is talking to Candy and Candy describes Curley’s wife as a “tart” who has “the eye”. This provides the reader with only a description of a married woman who is immoral and only causes trouble for the ranch hands. Specifically, the word “tart” dismisses her as a person and rids the reader of any thoughts about her having feelings.
The Sympathetic Character In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
667 Words | 3 PagesThe definition of a sympathetic character is one whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, though not necessarily admire. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife, a main character in the book is blatantly portrayed as an unsympathetic character. This is because they only see her through the men's eyes, who only see her as a tiresome object, owned by her husband. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair and misogynistic because he only displays her as unintelligent and promiscuous, never has a character have a turning point where they realize she’s more than an object, and he never reveals her true name. The first reason that Steinbeck's portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair is that he never gives Curley any redeeming personality traits, he only depicts her as unintelligent and promiscuous.
Curley's Wife Victim Essay
744 Words | 3 Pages(Josselyn) Curley’s Wife can be mistaken for an antagonist in the story because she is only described through the men’s point of view. Workers on the ranch view her in one way: as a cause for trouble. The old sweeper, Candy, sheds his perspective on us when he describes her on page 32, saying, “Jesus, what a tramp. So that’s what Curley picks for a wife” (Steinbeck). As men arrive for work, they are flooded with the opinions of all of the existing others.
Objectification In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
511 Words | 3 PagesShe is presented as lonely, desperate, and deprived of attention. Furthermore, the objectification of her personality which is shown throughout the book. The author states, “ She had full, Rugged lips and wide-spread eyes, heavily made up… She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. ”(Steinbeck 31), the male characters would regularly sexualize and offensively speak about her.
Examples Of Stereotypes In Of Mice And Men
494 Words | 2 PagesCurley's wife is stereotyped as a woman who gets around a lot, with other gentlemen. Therefore, Curley’s wife is a woman’s man and likes to get around. She flirts with any guy she can see with her own two eyes. “I never seen no body like her. She got the eye going, all the time on everybody” (Steinbeck 5.1.1).
Dehumanization In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
384 Words | 2 PagesFinally, Steinbeck dehumanizes Curley by the negative criticism that always pursues her and her loss of identity when accompanying someone or something. This is why she is always commonly known as “Curley’s Wife”, proving that she is an unimportant and insignificant character in this book. Plus, everybody in the book says that Curley’s wife causes trouble for everyone; as George says, “She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger,” (Steinbeck, 49) and is constantly getting blame for all that goes wrong in Soledad; as Candy says, You God damn tramp. You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad.
Archetypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
639 Words | 3 PagesThe characters in “Of Mice and Men” have memorable personalities that we all can relate to due to their set archetypes. John Steinbeck uses these common and generalized in order to have the readers relate more to his characters. This allows the reader to experience the story and feelings of the characters much better and lets the reader to connect to the character’s feelings, or force the reader to form opinions that aligns with those of the main protagonist(s). In “Of Mice of Men”, readers are initially introduced to Curley’s Wife with words such as “tart”, and having “the eye”. Which, even if readers do not know what that means, it may be inferred through diction that she is overly flirty, or a “tramp”.
Curley's Wife Misperceived In Of Mice And Men
976 Words | 4 PagesGeorge and Lennie just arrived to the farm where they find Candy and Candy starts to tell them how the farm works and about everyone on the farm, Curley’s wife is now being discussed and Candy states, “Well, I think Curley’s married… a tart” (28). Through this phrase, it is understood that everyone now on the farm believes Curley’s wife is a tart because she flaunts around all the boys and she isn’t portrayed as a very mature woman until the end of the novel where more is discovered about her. Curley’s wife is a very lonely person that just craves the attention she doesn’t get, so she acts like a tart since that gives her the attention she wants/ needs. Curley’s wife walks into the barn right after Lennie killed the puppy and Lennie avoided talking to Curley’s wife since he thinks, “Well, George says you’ll get us in a mess” (88). Through, this phrase, Steinbeck is portraying that everyone believes that Curley’s wife is going to influence Lennie to make bad decisions, which is what happened, but not everyone expected it.
Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Quotes
614 Words | 3 PagesCurley’s wife is flirty, powerful, and lonely which leads her life to be self-destructive. Curley’s wife starts off being flirty in this novel. Evidence shows that Curley’s wife is flirty is stated in the novel when Steinbeck states, “She puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” (Steinbeck 31). This shows how flirty she is at the ranch as she has met with all the working men at the ranch.
How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife In Of Mice And Men
675 Words | 3 PagesIn the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck we learn about the characteristics and personalities of most characters early within the book. Except for one character who is very mysterious. Curley's wife is the only woman on the ranch. Everyone on the ranch refers to her as Curley's wife throughout the whole book. Is a character who does not have a name that important to the story?
The Use Of Judgments In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
858 Words | 4 PagesWhen Curley’s wife is talking to Lennie, she initially judges him and claims, “I think you’re nuts” based off of the way he sounds and the things he talks about (Steinbeck 98). Curley’s wife misjudges Lennie because he talks and sounds different than her, so her initial judgment is that he is nuts. She uses a stereotypical reference to implicate the idea that he is a crazy person. However, after talking to him for a while now she realizes that he is “kinda a nice fella” and came to accept him (Steinbeck 99). Once she really got to talk to Lennie and really understand who he is, she could make the right judgment about him.
Light And Dark In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1378 Words | 6 PagesCurley’s wife is portrayed to be a “tart”, someone who is always flirting with other people. When she is first introduced, Steinbeck writes “ The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”, which gives the impression that Curley’s wife is ominous and perilous for Lennie and George. The imagery implies that Curley’s wife is the darkness in their lives and that she is the obstacle in the journey of accomplishing the American Dream. During the climax of Steinbeck’s novella, he writes “ The light was growing soft now” represents the slow release of her soul and that darkness slowly filling the barn and their lives. It also indicates the gradual discharge of hope and belief from the minds of Lennie, George and Candy.
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