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Gender In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

607 Words3 Pages

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” - Alice Walker In Chapter 4 of Of Mice and Men race and gender are depicted in different ways symbolizing different character behaviors. For starters, in this chapter race is seen as a barrier between workers. Crooks, a black stable buck, is separated from the rest of the men and lives in a secluded bunk by the barn. These living conditions compare Crooks to more of an animal than man. However, due to being crippled Crooks is more of a permanent resident at the bunkhouse. This allows him to be viewed as more of a piece with the property than a resource that can leave. In the beginning …show more content…

Curley’s wife, the only main female presented in the novella, is depicted as a harlot. The only other time females are mentioned is when they are mentioned as being ladies in whore houses. This depiction sets the tone for all females presented in the novella. Instead of being seen as a worker, women were mainly seen as man’s companion, and as a symbol for love, lust, and desire. In the novella Curley’s wife’s appearance is described as, “Her face heavily made up. Her lips were slightly parted. She breathed strongly, as though she had been running.” The description above presents an alluring and tempting appearance as well as enticing body language. These depictions create a female character that is more focused on men than anything else. However, fitting with the time era women were not seen as anything other than a male’s companion and a house wife. Later in the novella Curley’s wife flared up and says, “Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t like…” Curley’s wife uses sarcasm as well as aggravation to respond to the men. The quote above depicts a different tone other than lust. She reveals an almost helpless tone. She is aggravated with her husband and uses sarcasm to express her trapped

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Outliers In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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As the only women on the ranch, this causes Curley's wife to be the minority to all of the men on the farm. This causes her to become very lonely and isolated since she is the only women. In the texts Curley's wife says, “‘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?’”

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Examples Of Moral Ambiguity In Of Mice And Men

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Curley’s Wife is depicted as morally ambiguous because she uses her sexual appeal to lure men into her life, but in her point of view, she is trying to repel her loneliness. Curley’s Wife likes to use her physical appeal to get to know other men. To make her husband jealous, she is very seductive towards her husband's workers. This is

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How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife

410 Words | 2 Pages

Despite 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

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Curley's Wife Isolation

376 Words | 2 Pages

Curley’s wife is one of the most alienated characters in the novel Of Mice and Men, if not the most alienated and isolated character as it is displayed through her being nameless, being very flirtatious, and the perception of her by the men on the ranch. Indeed, the author constantly is showing that how regardless if you are amongst people or have company, but however there is no sensation of love what so ever, it is just as equal to living a life through despair and desolation. Whenever Curley’s wife appears in the book she is either looking for her husband or other company to converse with, however it has a reverse notation and it pours out of her in resentment and disillusion as she states, “Why can’t I talk to you?I never get to talk to

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Gender Lens In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

835 Words | 4 Pages

Things start off well, but take a turn quickly. George and Lennie are the main characters, but some of the other characters can be deeply examined too, through different literary lenses. 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.

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Comparing Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men And The 1992 Novel

543 Words | 3 Pages

The novela characterized Curley’s wife as a rude and lonely woman with a lack of feelings. Whereas in the film she is portrayed as lonely, sympathetic, and pleasant. In the book there is a scene in the barn where Curley's Wife is having a conversation with three of the characters and tells Candy, the black worker on the ranch, that she’ll have him strung on a tree. That scene shows us how rude and sort of spoiled she is. She is using her power as the boss's son’s wife to threaten a worker.

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Archetypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

639 Words | 3 Pages

Unlike the other ranch hands, Crooks has his own version of a bunkhouse suite in the stables of the barn. During the time period of this story, slavery had somewhat recently been abolished, which led to segregation in the south. This is the reason Crooks is alone in comparison to the other men, forced to sleep with “a manure pile under the window”. Remaining separate, but equal in the eyes of the people who don’t allow him in the bunkhouse. Crooks is also mentally outcasted in the eyes of the racist members of the ranch.

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How Does Steinbeck Use The Power Lens In Of Mice And Men

780 Words | 4 Pages

Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife as followed: “...wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up... she wore a cotton dress and red mules... She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the doorframe so that her body was thrown forward... Lennie’s eyes moved down over her body, and though she did not seem to be looking at Lennie she bridled a little” (31). Curley’s wife knows that her power, her only power, lies in her beauty and her position of actually being Curley’s wife.

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How Does Steinbeck Use Sexism In Of Mice And Men

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There are few words more loaded with history and personal connotation than racism or sexism. Whether you are using it to examine the past, explain the present, or predict the future, just using the word often draws out emotion from people of all walks of life. Though it is a sensitive topic, it is an important one. Mice and Men is the story of George and Lennie, two friends that travel from farm to farm, looking for work, in the hopes that one day they will have enough money to buy their own farm. But Mice and Men also contains a supporting cast, all of them with their own fears and desires.

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Female Characters In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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The women shown by Steinback are Curley’s Wife, Susy, and Aunt Clara and are given somewhat respect. Even though there are not many female characters, John Steinbeck symbolizes them as archetypes throughout the book he indicates sexism of women being at the bottom of the social hierarchy in a male workplace. Although all women in the novel are portrayed differently, on some level as authority figures, they differ in the amount of respect received

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Of Mice And Men Discrimination Essay

561 Words | 3 Pages

Mice and men essay Our society tends to disregard the need to have an open mind. This has caused our current perspective to be tainted with discrimination. In the novel Of Mice and Men, Discrimination is present when an individual accepts appearance rather than personality. This present through the character of Crooks, who choose to comply to racism.

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Mental Problems In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

307 Words | 2 Pages

In the book Curley's wife is shown as a pretty woman who is used by men. She wanted to go to Hollywood and become famous, but because she married Curley who lived on a farm she had to stay at home and clean up. In the book they don’t give her a name, they leave her unnamed because in the time period that the book was written women were seen as inanimate objects. They were used for cleaning and taking care of children.

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Sexism In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

973 Words | 4 Pages

Sexism is shown in the book when Curley’s wife is regarded as a bitch merely owing to the fact that she is flirtatious and wears appealing clothes. People are prejudiced against Curley’s wife because she is a woman and also because she wears makeup and dresses. She is constantly called derogatory terms throughout the book simply because of her appearance and coquettish actions. She is perceived as Curley’s property so she is not to be looked at or spoken to.

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Racists And Sexists In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

593 Words | 3 Pages

World Full of Racists and Sexists Imagine yourself living in a world where you are told your skin color is not beautiful simply because you are not a certain color that society condones “attractive.” Imagine living in a world, where you are seen as a sexual object that cannot be more intelligent than the men and put down constantly for having a different gender. Look no further; this is reality for almost all females out there in the world whose skin color is not white. Full of people labeling people based on appearance and not on the personality of a person. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Crooks and Curley’s wife are victims of such labels and assumptions.

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Examples Of Sexism In Of Mice And Men

1644 Words | 7 Pages

Author John Steinbeck explores multiple real life issues in both works, and provides a message of how unfair the world is, as well as show how cruel humans can be to differences. Sexism is an important topic when one discusses society. The issue of sexism has always been prominent. With the definition of prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In Of Mice and Men, author John Steinbeck showed how men thought about and treated women through the character Curley’s wife.

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