Of Mice And Men Quotes For Curley's Wife

Who Deserves Death More: Curley’s Wife or Lennie? Fatima Athar 9PJ-HK

The award-winning novella “Of Mice and Men” is about the disordered and very complex relationship between two very different migrant workers: George and Lennie. This novella was penned by John Steinbeck, set during the 1930’s after the wall street crash, during the Great Depression. It took place in Soledad - the city where he was born and brought up in, Steinbeck experienced the alarm of the Great Depression. Two of the most complex and main characters were murdered; Curley’s wife and Lennie. There are myriad ways that the author has shown that Curley’s wife deserved death more, giving the reader an insight into Curley’s wife rude and snobby behaviours.

"Hi, Slim," she said… "Hi, Good-lookin '." (Curley’s wife and Slim Chapter 2). This description of Curley’s wife that Steinbeck introduced allows the reader to understand that Curley’s wife is not faithful to her husband, she chooses to be bad. Considering the fact that Curley’s wife has the strength and power to roam around flirting with men, shows that she is not faithful to Curley. She is choosing to be bad by leading herself astray and flirting with men she should not have been flirting with. Also, as the reader sees when Slim replies to Curley’s wife with, “Hi, Good-lookin’.”, showing that he doesn’t care about being ‘canned’ by Curley and giving Curley’s wife the crave that she wants. However, Slim only calls her “Good-lookin’” stating to the reader that he also sees Curley’s wife as a tart, as an object. “"I 'm tryin ' to find Curley, Slim."... "Well, you ain 't tryin ' very hard. I seen him goin ' in your house."” (Curley’s wife and Slim Chapter 2). She was suddenly apprehensive. " 'Bye, boys,", Steinbeck portrays to the reader that after Slim tells Curley’s wife that her husband is looking for her in her house, she suddenly becomes alert, knowing that Curley has the power to do anything he wants and also knowing that if he gets suspicious about what she’s doing, and start to be on her trail strictly after that. In contrast, Lennie does not choose to be bad. Lennie with the mental

Ultimately, Steinbeck also described her with a very large amount of negative descriptions, which makes the reader think negatively and dislike Curley’s wife when the reader first meets her. “The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.” (Curley’s wife Chapter 2), Steinbeck illustrates to the reader that Curley’s wife cut off the sunshine from the ranch workers, showing the reader that Curley’s wife has a rotten personality. She takes light away from others, which can keep them in isolation. Her face was caked, and everything about her is red. Red shows the reader negativity and hatred and anger and a flirtatious as her personality. Her nails, lips, dress, and shoes were all red, symbolising this all. Also, her hair was “hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages,” portraying to the reader that she had ugly, sausage like hair, which makes the reader visualise her as a negative icon in the novella. The reader can then, therefore, foreshadow that the end of the book has something to do with Curley’s wife. When the reader reasons of the world mules, they think of donkeys, but here they are stating them as fancy shoes. This shows that Curley’s wife has a lot, and