Steinbeck is addressing the struggle for female existence during this period by leaving Curly's wife as the solitary female of the book, unneeded, and unwanted by the other characters. During this essay I will explore the significance of how Steinbeck presents Curly's wife through the connotations of her name, how she is first shown, her parallels with other characters and finally how she is presented when she has died . 'Curly's wife', just a name yet a symbol of how women were then regarded by their husbands, as a possession, a belonging owned only by men. When Curley's wife married him she became 'his', everything she owned became his, Steinbeck could be emphasising this authority and power by having Curly even take her name, so she no longer has her own name but now everyone associates Curley with her, she is no longer her own person. The use of a possessive apostrophe emphasises the point even further that she belongs to him and he controls her, although she can try to push the boundaries of society's rules and expectations, he will always be there to stop her as she is dominated by him.
Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife in a complex and complicated manner. Steinbeck uses her as a literary device to show what it was like for a woman in 1920s America during the depression through Curley’s wife. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a vehicle to show the gender prejudice and discrimination a woman had to face. He wanted people to change the way society thought of people such as women by showing that they are actually lonely and vulnerable even if they don’t seem it at first with the use of Curley’s wife and subtle methods as a symbol for women in that era. Steinbeck makes the reader conflicted on how they feel about her throughout the novel until and after her death.
Chapter 7: "Centennial Summer—1935" On Joe and Mary Alice's last annual summer visit to Grandma Dowdel's, the town is in the midst of a gala celebration commemorating "A Century of Progress." Although Grandma feigns disinterest, she tells the children that there will be a talent show that they just might "look in on" and a parade that they can view from the porch. Grandma sends her grandchildren up into the attic again, this time to search for appropriate old-time attire for all of them to wear to the festivities. Mary Alice discovers a lovely white... 1. Grandma Dowdel lies to the reporter from the city about Shotgun Cheatham.
Later in the poem, Hughes accuses his wife of abandoning her family. The repetition of “you” in the lines “unravelled your marriage, left your children echoing like tunnels in labyrinth, left your mother a dead-end” emphasises the immensely accusatory tone of the poem. These accusations in The Minotaur show that Hughes puts all blame for their failed marriage onto his wife, and is not taking any of the responsibility. Hughes’s view of Plath is a conflicting perspective to society’s view of the couple’s relationship. How Hughes portrays his conflicting perspective
“Her refusal to have her marriage dissolved…freed her temporarily from certain wifely duties…gave her a chance to have a girlhood” (28). Unlike woman of the time, Bertrande’s clever insight uncovers the advantageous qualities of an unconsummated married. Bertrande further eludes societal norms in meeting her alleged husband, Arnaud du
With the absence of her husband, Hester is left to face society on her own, and makes decisions along the way that shape her development in her life. Due to her desire of the reverend Dimmesdale, she chooses to make love to the man who she longs for, and yet in the pursuit of happiness, she condemns herself to a life of agony and perseverance. In Benjamin Killbourn's analysis of the symbolic scarlet letter in Shame Conflicts in The Scarlet Letter, he points out the symbolic meaning of what the true scarlet letter is, Hester's daughter Pearl. "Hester Prynne wears her letter “A” gaudily embroidered, and views Pearl as giving meaning to life—and to shame" (Killbourn 4). This embodied sin of Hester follows her wherever she travels to, just as the actual embroidered letter sticks with Hester.
At her death she is presented in an innocent way which is in great contrast to the way she has been presented in much of the novella ‘She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.’ This suggests that she was never evil and that she was attractive but in a nice way. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to present the theme of the American Dream. ‘Coulda been in the movies, an had nice clothes- all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me.’ Sadly a guy had let her down and it never happened. She is desperate to feel noticed and special and this shows how lonely she is and isolated.
What happens when society demands are not in line with what an individual desires? When an individual and society demands are different people are put in difficult situation sometimes making someone suffer the consequences. In the short stories “The Love Suicides at Amijima” and “The Punishment” it shows during time how society demands for women and individuals desires such as marriage, make women make irrational decisions. In “The Love Suicides of Amijima” Osan is married to her cousin Jihei; they have two kids together. Through out the story we observe how Jihei is having an affair with a prostitute name Koharu.
“Jig” is a young, woman who is forced to decide between her freedom and the stability of her relationship or embracing motherhood and responsibilities that come with such a title. While It is not to say that motherhood would be imprisonment; it in fact would be the death of everything she loved which could be categorized into two different things: travelling, and the very stability of her relationship with her lover, “the American”. “The American” says, “that’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” (Hemingway 592) which equally shows that the center of conflict in their relationship is the alleged
We can know when Narji see her father as an employer to her maid has a relationship with her father. Then in Her, a woman is a victim from her husband, because her husband marry with another woman. The condition is that felt by both of the characters as a woman. And the third similarity is feminism of the characters, because the major character from The Picture by Nawal Al Sadawi and Her by Titis Basino is a woman. It can represent of feminism.