Sexism Kills the American Dream
In the novella Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck, creates the character of Curley’s Wife, a strongly objectified 1930’s farmers wife in California. He molds her character to show her seemingly ‘natural’, yet terrible, struggles. By demonstrating the crushing blows of sexism on Curley’s Wife, Steinbeck exemplifies how a woman of the rough times, and hardships of the Great Depression in the 1930’s stood no chance to obtain the American Dream.
The brutal sexism on the ranch directly correlates to Curley’s wife being dehumanized. In the chapter two scene, George tells Lennie to stay away from her. This is clear dehumanization. George seems to know what a woman like Curley’s wife will do to Lennie. He makes this claim without knowing her at all. Georges declaration to Lennie, “Don’t even look at that bit**. I don’t care what she says, or what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of Jailbait worse than her,” (pg. 32) this creates a sense of how much less she is viewed by men. The impoverished little man, has to tell the mentally handicapped psycho to stay away from a woman they haven’t even met yet, because she is worse than them.
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They care because equal rights matter, and that is not what women are often times receiving. We should care because it impacts our lives today, and can help us reflect on times back then, to see our improvement as a whole. Citizens of all types need to stop viewing the world from their own eyes, as it obstructs your daily view on topics like sexism. Instead we need to concede to the fact that we are all created equal, but we just have different starting points. Sexism is a major setback for Curley’s wife, and a lot of women. Sexism can, and will eliminate a women's odds of landing the American