Curley's Wife

‘How does Steinbeck’s use of setting and characterisation contributed to an understanding of the main themes of the novel?’.
The novella “Of Mice and Men”, written by John Steinbeck, focuses on men and their relationships with each other, with the lone female, the wife of the antagonist, being subjected, marginalized and objectified. Set during The Great Depression, the story takes place on a ranch in California with a group of men and one woman. Steinbeck uses techniques

Through the introduction of Curley’s wife, Steinbeck has instantly portrayed and created her to be seen as an outsider to men. Curley’s wife highlights the women's rights in the 1930’s and shows men's view of women and how they are quick to judge. Curley's wife is disrespected

She expresses to him ‘[I] coulda been in movies and had nice clothes. All them nice clothes like they all wear.” She explains how she could have been in Hollywood, ‘He says he was gonna to put me in the movies. Says I was a natural’. She tells Lennie that she married Curley to get away from her mother, and that she thought she would eventually reach her dream of Hollywood through Curley’s wealth. She confided with Lennie and told him her thoughts, “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” Curley’s wife was killed by Lennie playing with her hair, leading the reader to being told her neck was broken. Lennie has a history of killing things, such as rabbits and dogs. Curley’s wife was screaming and struggling to get out of his reach when he accidently killed her. Lennie hid in a brush next to the river after killing Curley’s wife, because at the beginning of the novella George said to him, ‘Well, look. Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush’. Which leads to Lennie following his instructions and going to the brush. Which lead to Lennie being killed by his best friend. George knows if Lennie were alive Curley would have him torched him for murdering his wife and because he broke his