ipl-logo

Of Mice And Men Feminist Analysis

765 Words4 Pages

Throughout the short story we see an overarching theme of oppression of women for equality because of defined gender roles that society uses to categorize women and men. John Steinbeck does a magnificent job in portraying the characters in different ways that allows them to share different qualities. For example, we see the protagonist Elisa Allen introduced as a wife of a rancher who is strong. The author describes her as a great gardener who loves to garden chrysanthemums that seem to symbolize the mind of Elisa. When we first meet her John Steinbeck introduces her wearing men’s clothing as he states, “Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man 'sblack hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured …show more content…

However, for Elia Tinker is what she desires which is her sexuality, freedom and ability to wander. As a reader we can notice that the masculinity of Elisa was starting to come to an end when Elisa was giving the flowers to Tinker as Steinbeck writes, “The gloves were forgotten now” (Steinbeck, 104). But it also evident that Elisa enjoys Tinkers accompanies showing her sexual desires. Tinkers arrival sparked her desire where on page 205, Elisa is seen controlling herself from touching Tinker. In other words, this clearly describes the change in Elisa from the beginning that was described as strong and masculine to weak and frustrated women displaying her feminine emotions. Tinker is also a clever man who uses Elisa for his advantage, where on the other hand Elisa finds his lifestyle to be interesting. But when Elisa desires to have this lifestyle Tinker reminds Elisa of her gender as he states, “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” (Steinbeck, 805). This line by Tinker underlines once again that women are weak and aren’t powerful enough to face isolation out at night. Towards, the end of the short story Steinbeck beautiful describes Elisa’s realization that equality cannot be achieved and it is just an illusion that is controlled by men. When the author writes, “And then she scrubbed herself until with a

Show More
Related
471 Words | 2 Pages

However, within the novel, Steinbeck denies his female character’s simplicities by creating multidimensional roles within their womanly archetypes. Each female is capable of being motherly or wicked while being her own individually developed character. Therefore, Steinbeck does indeed create his female characters, as flat rather than round characters. However, though they may remain underdeveloped, they may also remain as individuals separate from their

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

Misconception Curley’s wife, who was never to be named, was a complex and important main character in John Steinbeck's novelette “Of Mice & Men.”. She had a complicated past from aspiring to be a young actress but never getting the support needed from her family. She was practically forced into marriage with Curley; she never actually loved him. From the first time she was brought up in the novelette, she was portrayed as a flirtatious, ignorant tramp. This portrayal, however, is based on the viewpoints of Steinbeck’s male characters.

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

Being forced to kill someone would be really emotional, but imagine if that person was your best friend. In John Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men” George and Lennie have been together since they were kids. Lennie idolized George and George, as often as he gets mad at him, still loves Lennie. They run from their old town of Weed to get a job as ranch hands in Salinas Valley. From there they meet many people, most of which welcomed them, while some had a harder time accepting them.

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

Further supporting Henry’s expectations, the way Elisa dresses while she gardens, downplays her femininity. As Elisa is busy working in the fields, her hair gets in her way and she moves it to the side. In the process she “left a smudge of earth on her cheek” (1). Having dirt on her face did not concern her, and so she did not take time to remove it. In Elisa’s mind, tending her garden allows her to find inner happiness amongst her chrysanthemums.

Read More
1134 Words | 5 Pages

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘ I lived through this horror I can take the next thing that comes along.” - elanor roosevelt. The novel In The Time of Butterflies, transpires during the time of the Trujillo rebellion in the Dominican Republic. As a whole, this story is an example of courage, and exemplifies this through the actions of the Mirabal sisters.

Read More
374 Words | 2 Pages

The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.

Read More
511 Words | 3 Pages

She is presented as lonely, desperate, and deprived of attention. Furthermore, the objectification of her personality which is shown throughout the book. The author states, “ She had full, Rugged lips and wide-spread eyes, heavily made up… She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. ”(Steinbeck 31), the male characters would regularly sexualize and offensively speak about her.

Read More
429 Words | 2 Pages

Of Mice & Men John Steinbeck’s Of Mice & Men is a novel packed with racial and gender inequalities. The way it portrayed the character of Curley’s wife is particularly interesting and spoken about, and for good reason. Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife – who, accordingly, was never called anything else – was consistently dehumanized, and forced to fit into certain stereotypes. It’s also worth noting that Curley is an abusive husband towards her. Curley’s wife is a victim of sexism, correctly depicted by Steinbeck’s illustration of how society used to be.

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

f Mice and Men Essay - Essays and Analysis Critical Context and Evaluation print Print document PDF list Cite link Link Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness”

Read More
1217 Words | 5 Pages

Elisa is experiencing conflict with each person she encounters on several levels, as well as with nature itself as she tends the garden and lives life. The garden itself is changing Elisa’s physical characteristics as the story unfolds. The internal conflict Elisa works through is the most prevalent, allowing for a round character. Steinbeck exposes this in multiple dialogs throughout the short story that reveal a character full of inner turmoil about who she is and what she wants out of life. Steinbeck reveals a sense of lostness and need for something more in Elisa here “Elisa Brought him a fifty-cent piece from the house and dropped it in his hand.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Elisa Allen, the protagonist of The Chrysanthemums was miserable, a 35 year old women, and dressed manly when tending to her flowers. ‘Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod- hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big

Read More
1499 Words | 6 Pages

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun presents the rise of feminism in America in the 1960s. Beneatha Younger, Lena Younger (Mama) and Ruth Younger are the three primary characters displaying evidences of feminism in the play. Moreover, Hansberry creates male characters who demonstrate oppressive attitudes towards women yet enhance the feministic ideology in the play. A Raisin in the Sun is feminist because, with the feminist notions displayed in the play, women can fulfil their individual dreams that are not in sync with traditional conventions of that time.

Read More
1644 Words | 7 Pages

Author John Steinbeck explores multiple real life issues in both works, and provides a message of how unfair the world is, as well as show how cruel humans can be to differences. Sexism is an important topic when one discusses society. The issue of sexism has always been prominent. With the definition of prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In Of Mice and Men, author John Steinbeck showed how men thought about and treated women through the character Curley’s wife.

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

The novel Pride and Prejudice can easily be picked apart through a feminist lens. The farther into the book one goes, the more there is to critique and analyze through a feminist lens. The book is about Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with her eventual fiance Mr. Darcy, the ups and the downs of their relationship. Elizabeth was never a woman who only craved the attention and approval of men, she was her own person with her own complex emotions.

Read More
878 Words | 4 Pages

Feminist Theory In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, they recognize the life of the Igbos which are a tribe in the village of Umuofia during European colonization. There are many topics brought up in this book like the effects of colonization, culture and tradition, religion, race, etc. It is relatively easy to read “Things Fall Apart” as an anti-feminist text due to the face that the Igbo clan’s customs and traditions seem to side towards masculine features, such as power and strength. The novel is told through a male protagonist’s point of view in nineteenth century Nigeria, while women there do not have much rights, they do wield heavy influence over the leaders of the clan.

Read More

More about Of Mice And Men Feminist Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document