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Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Character Analysis Essay

932 Words4 Pages

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. Steinbeck’s characterization of her through her appearance, words, and what is said of her show how following one’s dreams is an essential part of life. Steinbeck’s description of Curley’s wife’s appearance makes her seem very enticing and sexual. However, she isn’t as promiscuous as her “full, rouged lips” would imply (16). She yearns for the life she missed out on, …show more content…

She is constantly searching for her husband, hoping that she can turn “any of you boys seen Curley” into a conversation starter (38). In some cases it works, but she is usually quickly shut out. The only time she manages to get in more than a few words with the men is in the barn with Lennie, where Steinbeck reveals a side of her not seen elsewhere in the book. Throughout the rest of the story she is put together and composed, a mirage sent from Old Hollywood, but here she is blatantly upset, wondering “what’s the matter with me?”(43). A part of her shines through that isn’t usually seen. She’s hurt, her dreams are crushed, seemingly by “[her] ol’ lady”, and instead of being a beloved actress, she’s stuck on a farm where nobody will speak to her for fear of her husband(44). She “coulda been in the movies” and yet she’s trapped on this farm (44). The only time she seems hopeful is when she mentions the possibility of her dream coming true (43). She reveals her true aspirations through the rare moments she gets a chance to

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931 Words | 4 Pages

In such time of the Great Depression and gender equality, this novel presents the character of sexism, Curley’s wife, to show how her dreams has been achieved through death. During her talk with Lennie, she tells him that she “‘[...]never get[s] to talk to nobody [and that she] get[s] awfully lonely’” (Steinbeck 86). Even though she is depicted as a flirtatious, “‘[...]purty [...] bitch’”, her true life was lonely and segregated from the male ranchers (Steinbeck 32). Steinbeck applies this paradox in the story to picture the reader about how a character’s identity can either encourage or ruin his or her reasons to live and achieve a future.

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544 Words | 3 Pages

Curley’s wife describes her childhood, “I never got that letter. 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, an’ she says no. So I married Curley…” (Steinbeck 88).

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666 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed.

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932 Words | 4 Pages

After reading the novel and watching the movie “Of Mice and Men”, I have learned about the lifestyle of migrant workers in California during the 1930s, which I did not know about before studying the novel. California back in the 1930s is very different from what I pictured it to be as the conditions of life weren’t that good. This is also the first novel that I have read in my years as a student that contains so much foreshadowing. Never before had I read a book where the author produced so much foreshadowing in such a short book. Steinbeck uses Lennie as a source of motivation and hope in achieving the dream farm that George, Candy, Crooks and Lennie himself desire.

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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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798 Words | 4 Pages

Curley’s wife is lonely in her home. She is supposed to sit there alone while Curley checks on everything at the ranch. Instead, she walks around the ranch, flirting with every man she finds slightly attractive. She talks to Lennie, and because he finds her pretty, he stares and is fascinated by her. He cannot recognize that she means trouble, so he continues to talk to her and admire her.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

but she also has to deal with only being known as a possession to her husband and to the others. “Curleys wife” (Pg 79) represents how they do not respect her enough to call her by her own name showing how much she lacks an identity of her own and is treated as a piece of property to her husband making it hard for her to do what she wants without being critiqued by the men on the farm. Another way Steinbeck objectifys Curley 's wife is by using specific vocabulary “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don 't care what she says and what she does.

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763 Words | 4 Pages

In the novella Of mice and men by John Steinbeck, two men George and Lennie, have many limitations in life. George and Lennie end up on a farm where they meet people who also have limitations, one of those people happens to be Curley 's wife. Steinbeck crafts Curley 's wife as a sexualized object in order to reveal that women are dehumanized and thus excluded from the American Dream. Not only Does Curley 's wife have to deal with being the only women on the ranch full of men

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153 Words | 1 Pages

Curley’s wife has many unrealized dreams. Before her death, Curley’s wife confesses her desire to become a movie star, “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes like they wear... An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.” p.89

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1378 Words | 6 Pages

Curley’s wife is portrayed to be a “tart”, someone who is always flirting with other people. When she is first introduced, Steinbeck writes “ The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”, which gives the impression that Curley’s wife is ominous and perilous for Lennie and George. The imagery implies that Curley’s wife is the darkness in their lives and that she is the obstacle in the journey of accomplishing the American Dream. During the climax of Steinbeck’s novella, he writes “ The light was growing soft now” represents the slow release of her soul and that darkness slowly filling the barn and their lives. It also indicates the gradual discharge of hope and belief from the minds of Lennie, George and Candy.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

The first impression that the reader understands of Curley’s wife is that she wants to be quite noticeable and wants to stay that way. She also seems to be interacting more with the men on the ranch that Curley himself. Through Curley’s Wife, Steinbeck wishes to explore the ranch a little deeper and to see how people react to only one girl living on the ranch. She is shown trying to be too interactive with the men on the ranch creating a troublesome atmosphere, this causes the men on the ranch to slowly start to dislike her. She is referred to as being a “tart.”

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745 Words | 3 Pages

To better understand the novella Of Mice and Men, the background of the story must be elaborated. The setting of the story takes place in the Salinas Valley, California during the The Great Depression in the 1930s. John Steinbeck, the author, tells about the protagonist, George, and the antagonist, Lennie, and their journey of constantly finding new work to pursue George’s dream to own his farm and “live off the fatta the

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864 Words | 4 Pages

The dialogue between Lennie and Curley’s wife before he kills her explains that Curley’s wife never got to live her dream, but instead she married Curley and began her life on the ranch: “I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella’… Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes they wear,” (Steinbeck 89). Lennie listens to what Curley’s wife has to say, but he was more focused on his own dream of tending the rabbits during their conversation. Through these examples of dialogue between characters, Steinbeck reveals that not all characters will accomplish their American

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786 Words | 4 Pages

The singular prominent female character in the story is portrayed as an object, rather than a person. Steinbeck displays her as an object by never directly naming her, instead only referring to her as ‘Curley’s Wife’. This reduces her to Curley’s property, and the effect is heightened by the fact that Curley never refers to her as anything other than ‘my wife’, as if she is an object belonging to him. His immediate reaction to her death is not one of sadness, but one of anger towards Lennie, as if Lennie has destroyed a valuable possession of his. Curley turns his wife’s death into a situation with himself as the center of attention: ‘...“I’ll kill the big son-of-a-b*tch myself.

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543 Words | 3 Pages

Finally, curley’s wife’s innocence and nativity is presented through her dream and death. From an early age the men in her life consistently let her down, tearing her apart piece by piece. She tells Lennie about a guy who said, “he was gonna put me [her] in the movies.” Like many Americans at the time she believed in the American dream and had a dream of her own. However, unlike George and Lennie hers was shut down and had no possibility of ever happening.

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