How Is Curley's Wife Sexualized

The novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, tells of the story of how individuals were alienated during the Great Depression, including an unnamed farm wife married to a man named Curley. She is simply identified as “Curley’s wife.” Being the only woman on the farm has caused her to be a sexualized object, have a great sense of loneliness, and feel that she will never live up to her dreams. The characterization, actions, and treatment of Curley’s wife depicts how women were kept from achieving their own American Dream in the sexist society of the 1930s. Through the characterization of Curley’s wife a reader can see that she is sexualized, desires to be dominant, and has suffered throughout her life. “She ain’t concealin’ nothing. I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the

In an act of rebellion, she chose to marry Curley. Before she is killed by Lennie, her American Dream is revealed. She hoped to one day be a Hollywood actress and had met a man who said that he would make it happen. He said he would write back a letter and she had never received it. Assuming her mother had stolen the letter, her one-way ticket to success, she abandoned her life. ““I never got that letter,” she said. “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself… So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night.”” (Steinbeck 88) Because she could not have what she wanted, she did exactly what her mom did not want her to do; she got married. In the novella, she even says herself “”I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.”” (Steinbeck 88) Had she not chosen to marry Curley, her life would be so much better. She even knows this herself. Curley’s wife knowingly decided to keep herself from achieving her