Curley's Wife Essay

Curley’s wife - do we sympathise with her?

Below is a list of statements about Curley’s wife.   Read each one and try to decide whether the reader would see her in a sympathetic or unsympathetic light.   Then rank them from most to least sympathetic, with most sympathetic being 1 and least sympathetic being 14.

Most sympathetic (1)

Least sympathetic / unsympathetic (14)

|Statement                                                                                                                         |Ranking #           |
|All of the men are unsure or wary of her.                                                                                         |                     |
|She is the only female character in the novel.                                                                                   |                     |
|She is referred to as ‘tramp’, ‘tart’, ‘looloo’ and ‘bitch’.                                                                     |                     |
|She is physically appealing – ‘purty’.                                                                                           |                     |
|Steinbeck ensures that she remains nameless.                                                                                     |                     |
|She uses her sexuality as a weapon and is seen as a sexual predator (use of red and ostrich feathers).                           |                     |
|She is Curley’s possession or commodity and is used as a symbol of his masculinity.                                               |                     |
|She dreams of bettering herself and is not content with the life she has.                                                         |                     |
|Lonely.                                                                                                                           |                     |
|She’s seen as being sweet and innocent in death – her natural beauty is...