Curley’s Wife is portrayed as a “tart” and “tramp” according to the male characters in Of Mice and Men. She frequently flirts with the ranch hands on her father-in-laws’ farm. Even though she’s a trouble maker, Curley’s Wife experiences extreme loneliness and the hurt of her own broken dream. She explains on page 97 that she had a chance at an acting career but instead she was trapped into living an unhappy life with Curley. This proves that Curley’s wife is not a heartless “bitch” but actually a human being that has aspirations and…
As the only woman on a ranch surrounded by men that view her as a temptress, Curley’s wife faces little to no chance of friendship. Despite Steinbeck’s portrayal, Curley’s wife emerges as a complex character through the quotation, “‘I get lonely’” (82). This declaration to Lennie shows Curley’s wife as more than the stereotypical enchantress, but as an actual person who possesses feelings, particularly loneliness. The line becomes noteworthy as the reader begins to notice the character of Curley’s wife developing more depth and feeling.…
Of Mice and Men is an example of why we need to be our brother’s keeper.…
what he thinks about her. When Curley’s wife is talking to the guys, she is always grabbing…
People are lonely in the book Of Mice and Men. Curley’s wife is lonely, Crooks is lonely, Candy is lonely without his pup, and Lennie is lonely in his own special way. Many characters have a lonely trait in the book, Crooks isn’t aloud to hang around with the ranch hands because he is a different color than the other people that work on the ranch. Curley is always leaving his wife to sit in the house by herself so Curley’s wife gets really lonely. When Carlson shot Candy’s dog that really broke his heart causing him to be lonely.…
Everyone has their own loneliness side, and this also happens in the little ranch from John Steinbeck’s novel“Of Mice and Man”. In this story Curley's wife is always trying to talk with everyone but her husband Curley. There is another loneliness man in this story, he is Candy. Candy is an old character in that story, he has worked on that ranch for 10 more years with his old dog. Candy and Curley’s wife felt loneliness in this story.…
‘Of mice and men’ is set during the Great Depression. When a Dust Bowl in the 1930s, which vastly damaged the economics and agriculture in the US. Hundreds and thousands of farmers lost their jobs and became migrant workers in California. Finding a job in the ranches was really difficult, because the society was cruel to those who are useless. In this book, there are a few minor characters that reflected some important social injustices in the 1930s.…
Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to represent how many women in the 1930s were classed below men, and how this prejudice allowed their lives to be defined by the men around them. In this passage, Steinbeck has manipulated Curley’s wife’s appearance in order to reinforce our pre judged feelings towards her, based on gossip and rumours told by Candy.…
Married to Curley, she lives on a ranch with only men with whom to talk. However the men degrade and insult her, and Curley makes sure no one thinks of talking to his wife on fear of losing their jobs. Curley is very possessive of his wife, and wants the men on the ranch to know that he has something valuable that they are not allowed to have. Her gender secludes her on the ranch, and her attempts to get the other men to talk to her only pushes them further away. Her extravagant appearance illustrates her desperate need for attention. “I get lonely. 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?” (Steinbeck 87). She seeks out the men on the ranch for company, however this is seen as a promiscuous act in their eyes. She settled for Curley after being unable to pursue her own dreams, but she now lives on a ranch with men who avoid her because they are too afraid of her…
Steinbeck portrays her in a horrible manner; he shows her as unintelligent and unimportant figures. Curley's wife is a prime example of how Steinbeck presents women; she is the most prominent woman in the book, so there are more citations about her.…
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck creates characters that play important roles throughout the story that contribute to themes and connect readers to an overall focus. Curley’s wife, a minor, but significant character in the story, contributes to the theme and is partly responsible for Lennie’s death. Her sinful actions and petty personality make her a character that isn’t respected by others and is known for being trouble around the ranch. Disregarding her flirtations ways and overall self-absorbance, her dreams of a promising future are destroyed. Her gaudy appearance and constant search for Curley makes the men on the ranch view her as a cheater and inappropriate woman. However, after hearing her story, some of…
Steinbeck's initial portrayal of Curley's wife shows her to be a mean and seductive temptress. Alive, she is connected to Eve in the Garden of Eden. She brings…
Curley’s wife always hoped to be an actress and even after she was married and settled down on the ranch, she still had those hopes of being famous in the back of her head. For example, when she gets annoyed with Lennie and Crooks she begins bragging about almost being in shows when she was younger, “ ‘...Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…’ She was breathless with indignation. ‘—Sat'iday night. Ever'body out doin' som'pin'. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep—an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else.’ " (Steinbeck 78). However, as seen above, that bragging soon turns into resentment toward her younger self for never following her dreams. Through this we can see that even though she is stuck in a lousy marriage on a random ranch and treated as less than everybody else simply because she is a woman, she still hopes to make it out and get to perform and be in…
The only female character in the novel whose name has been given to readers as Curley’s Wife is a paradox within her own life and its circumstances, and where she ended up as a result. Throughout the novel she was upset at the way she was living because she claimed that she could have “ ‘...been in the movies, an[d] had nice clothes...’ ” however the unfortunate truth was that she was stuck living the life she was living (Steinbeck 89). This as well as the fact that readers constantly saw her as mean and toxic, but only in her death they saw her as she truly was; “... the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone…” and she looked very plain and beautiful (Steinbeck 92-93). She, much like many other characters in the novel, had a dream for herself. However the fact is that she unfortunately failed to see that dream become a reality. Steinbeck used the paradox in the way the men on the ranch saw her to show how unfairly treated she was. He showed this through her death, displayed as pure and beautiful, unlike the manipulative creature readers had come to know thanks to the perception of the men. It is unfortunate that she never lived long enough to pursue her dreams, instead stuck in a place where she was not happy and trapped in a failing marriage. The paradox is simple, she had dreams, and they were crushed. Not everybody, as saddening as it is, gets to live their ideal life. Most do, but some tend to stop…
Curley’s wife lost her dream and she lives an unhappy life. For example she met this guy who said, “He says he is gonna put me in the movies…I never got that letter (Steinbeck 88).” She wanted to be with this guy but she never heard back from him. Curley’s wife states, “How’d you like not to be able to talk to anybody (Steinbeck 87)?” This proves she has a lonely and unhappy life. Another example would be when Curley’s wife states, “I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella (Steinbeck 89).” This proves she is unhappy because she isn’t satisfied with her husband.…