John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men follows two migrant farmers and their experiences working towards their dream. The story takes place in the Salinas Valley during both the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when jobs were few and far between. George and Lennie have a dream of owning land, which is inhibited by these conditions. On the farm they come to work on, they meet the sultry wife of the Curly, the boss’ son. She was deprived of achieving her dream or stardom, and is left constantly craving attention in any way she can get it.
After leaving home and basically forcing herself into a loveless marriage, she states that she isn’t in love with her husband. ” I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella”. (89) Throughout the course of the book, Curley’s wife spends most of her time “looking for Curley” when in reality she’s just looking for someone to talk to.
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?’”
In Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife can be analyzed as being lonely and self-obsessed. Curley’s wife is very lonely because she is the only female on the ranch, and Curley doesn’t pay much attention to her. Curley would much rather talk about himself, and the only reason she married Curley was to get away from her mother. Curley’s wife had a dream of being in the show business, but she believed her mother sabotaged her career which again is why she married Curley. Curley’s wife’s loneliness also prompts her to become self-obsessed.
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” In the Novel Of Mice of Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie are running into trouble in the small town of Weed. George and Lennie Quickly run out of weed and eventually work on Salinas Valley, there they meet Slim, Curley, Crooks, Curley’s Wife, Whit, Carlson, and Candy that all lived on the ranch. Lennie always gets George into trouble but not for much longer, Once Lennie accidently killed Curley’s Wife. Curley was furious and wanted revenge, but at that moment George had to do what was best and kill Lennie himself.
Confirmation bias is heavily evident in Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, though it is best seen through Curley’s wife. Before she is even introduced, Steinbeck (through his characters’ dialogue) paints a picture of an unfaithful, promiscuous woman who habitually flirts with different men (outside of her husband). One of the first mentions of her is while Candy is talking to George and Lennie. He says, “Well - she got the eye. [...] I seen her give Slim the eye.
Another character in Of Mice and Men who has a lower hierarchy in the ranch is Curley’s wife. Steinbeck exemplifies that she is devalued because of the fact that she is woman. Woman had less rights at the time along with coloured people, but women’s rules weren’t as restricted. “Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body!
Curley's wife is characterized as flirtatious. To start out with, in chapter 2, of the story Of Mice and Men, the author, John Steinbeck symbolically uses light to portray the ideal of how imposing she is, when he writes, " The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. " Her physical appearance of "full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made- up. Her fingernails were red. " She is wearing a "red cotton house dress,” and a pair of mules decorated with "bouquets of red ostrich feathers,” portrays the type of character she is.
Innocence or Accountability? In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, two men, George and Lennie, try to work their way to their dream of owning their own land. They go to work for someone on a farm, but find themselves in a bad situation when Lennie kills the wife of Curley, the son of their boss. Many people may argue that Lennie should not be penalized for the death of Curley’s wife, but I believe Lennie should be.
My Grandfather lost his leg to diabetes a few years ago. He hasn’t been able to do much since it happened. I understand it was probably his fault that he didn’t recover the best, but I still feel sorry for him. Seeing him having to give up his business destroyed me, no more 4 a.m. Saturday mornings in the big truck delivering produce to Chuck ‘E’ Cheese’s and getting free cotton candy and tokens.
My opinion towards Curley’s Wife, is that she can be a little too flirty at times. I understand that she is lonely when her husband is at work and/or at the whore house, but I think that she should be able to keep it under control. To be honest I hate her. I say this because she is always trying to get people in trouble, she’s always causing trouble, and she never once does anything on her own, she’s always has to go bother the guys, like Lennie. For example in Chapter 5, when Lennie is in the barn, getting all flustered and frustrated because he had just killed the pup on accident because he was play fighting with him, Curley’s Wife came in, and started bothering him.
Often, one’s social climate, including but not limited to the relationships that may exist in it, heavily influence one’s behavior. In John Steinbeck’s historical fiction novel, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife’s relationship with her husband impacts her behavior around employees of the ranch. Examples of this include her flaunting, arrogance, and sensitivity and these qualities offer insight about Steinbeck’s beliefs and opinions relating to women. Firstly, Curley’s wife often flaunts around the employees because of her relationship with Curley.
In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck gives one character in particular a lower hierarchy in the ranch. Steinbeck introduces Crook’s to show that the main reason he is degraded by the other ranch hands is because of the pigment of his skin. During the 1930s, blacks did not have many rights, and most were considered property. This is displayed by Crooks, especially in a quote from Curley’s wife: “Well, you keep your place then, N*gger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny,” which was said on page 80.
She is locked away in the house, alone all day. Curley’s wife goes into the barn to seek company, she wants to interact with other people. Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife’s actions, “I seen her give slim the eye, curley never seen it. I see her give carlson the eye,” (STEINBECK 28). Steinbeck depicts her as a troublemaker, this shows during this time period women were easily labeled.
Throughout the story, Curley’s wife
