Examples Of Sexism In Of Mice And Men

In the novella Of Mice And Men, sexism is prevalent throughout the course of the story. One significant character who has been affected by sexism is Curley’s wife. This is clearly demonstrated when she is referred to throughout the novella as “Curley’s Wife”. Rather than being known as an individual with emotions, she is objectified and her identity is robbed from her. Sexism is also shown towards Curley’s Wife when she is constantly misunderstood and is suspected to flirt with others by all the men on the ranch. When Lennie and George meet Curley’s Wife, George immediately warns Lennie by stating “you keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat-trap if I ever seen one” (Steinbeck 32). This illustrates that because Curley’s Wife tries to speak

This eventually led to her feeling lonely. Furthermore, rather than one specific character enabling the sexism throughout the story, all of the men on the ranch contributed to the sexism shown towards Curley’s Wife. One such way was that they dismissed everything that Curley’s Wife said, especially regarding her loneliness. Instead of preventing her marginalization, they continued to marginalize her because of their own marginalization and insecurities. This is clearly shown when Curley’s Wife tells Lennie, Candy, and Crooks that “I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77). Curley’s Wife’s statement represents how sexism impacted women— they were expected to stay in the house all the time and they had to be dependent on their husbands. Besides that, the women during the Great Depression were expected to have very different values and they had little to no rights. On the other hand, Curley’s Wife was portrayed very differently— she was shown as a woman who was ambitious and had her own hopes and dreams but she could unfortunately not fulfill her

Other than that, Sexism also impacted the behavior of Curley’s Wife. It not only led her to seek friendship from the men, but it also led her to discriminate against those who were weaker than her. One example of this is when Curley’s Wife threatens Crooks “you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” (Steinbeck 80). This perfectly illustrates how the marginalization of Curley’s Wife leads her to marginalize Crooks— in order to gain power in this situation, she threatens Crooks, who doesn’t have power due to his race. Moreover, sexism shown towards Curley’s wife also affected the story and the other characters in several ways. Firstly, the marginalization towards Curley’s wife led to her death, which set off a chain of important events such as Lennie and George failing to achieve their dream of owning a farm and tending the rabbits. This event significantly impacted the ending because if Curley’s wife wasn’t marginalized, she wouldn’t have looked for friendship so much. Instead, she would have been content and she could have had a chance to fulfill her