She dislikes her husband and had a desire to become a movie star. She is not seem as an individual and has no name. This shows how a woman belonged to their husband. This essay is going to examine in detail how Curley’s wife has been presented in this novel. Steinbeck presents her as a negative married woman.
Further, she does little to hide these flirtations from her husband, though they’re likely to infuriate him and make him feel even smaller. As the only woman on the ranch, Curley’s wife is lonely and sad; something her marriage to Curley only makes worse. She reveals throughout the course of the story that she is unhappy in her marriage because her husband seems to care little for her, and is really more interested in talking about himself than anything else. She is constantly searching for her husband, “I’m looking for Curley.” Although, this may be just an excuse to mingle with the men and have some company. Curley’s wife barges in on Lennie, Crooks, and Candy in Chapter Four.
Steinbeck uses Curley's wife's character to depict the inferiority of women. He also uses her to inform the reader of the dire range of choices for women of that era. Steinbeck creates the character of Curley's wife to show the reader that life as a house wife is dull and repetitive. He does that by making Curley's wife not fit into the expected mould of a married house wife. She is a lonely character constantly searching for attention, even if it is from ranch workers, cripples and the coloured.
She tends to look for other male ranchers. But Curley, her husband does not recognize her as a person but more like a sexual object, Candy said that “he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife” this shows us Curley uses he wife as a trophy and she was never given a name in the novella, she is only treated as a possession of Curley and how no one else on the ranch wanted to get to know her but avoid her instead. We first set eyes on Curley’s wife in the bunk house, when she pretends to be looking for Curley the impression of Curley’s wife being flirtatious is emphasized as she dresses inappropriately for a women married to the boss’s son “she had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, her fingernails are red and her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages” which in my opinion red shows sign of danger besides from this, she both talk and acts playfully and flirtatiously in front of other ranchers “she said playfully”. Candy’s description of Curley’s wife seems accurate after her first appearance in the novel. In this situation George notices this and tries to avoid having conversation with her, using short answers like “Well he ain’t now.” This is because he thinks Curley’s wife is“Jail bait” before getting to know Curley’s wife and the reason why she is this way.
Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in different perspectives. The sympathy which she attracts is immense. She explains that she ‘gets lonely’ and ‘I get awful lonely’. The use of repetition emphasises her isolation and frustration at her not being able to talk to ‘nobody but Curley’ and this frustration continually surfaces as she speaks to Lennie. “And her words tumbled out in a passion of communication as though she hurried before the listener could be taken away”.
This shows us that no matter how hard they hoped and worked for their dream, it would eventually collapse, just like Wall Street. Every character I am going to comment on has or had a dream, in reality, they will never achieve. I will begin with Curley’s wife because, even though, she isn’t a migrant worker, she is still a prime example of loneliness and disappointment during the great depression. Throughout the novella, we become aware of just how lonely Curley’s Wife is, due to her hanging around the other men and craving their attention. She dresses in red high heels and wears red lipstick in order to attract the other men and gain their attention.
The two texts present a woman from a disadvantaged point of view and how she struggles to establish a foothold in a male-dominated society. In Hamlet, analysis of the plight of women falls on Ophelia and Gertrude. The two women endure chauvinistic suffering and finally break loose. Gertrude transgresses the patriarchal bounds of femininity by marrying soon after her husband’s death, much to Hamlet’s chagrin. Consequently, he refers to her as “frail” (Act 1, Scene 2, line 146).
Explore the way Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as someone we both sympathise with and dislike at time Steinbeck also makes the reader feel dislike for Curley’s wife when she mentions the purpose she married Curley. This is further exposed in the following quote. “Well I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t…make something of myself…so I married Curley…I don’t like Curley’.”Couldn’t make something of myself “reveals that Curley’s Wife also has a dream but is choosing to achieve it in the wrong way. By marrying Curley she thought she could have a better future, but she has not only ruined chances of her dream to come true but has also been two faced and hurt Curley by not loving him. She has been hubris by marrying someone just
The speaker feels that men do not appreciate this work. By repeating “I want a wife” in almost every sentence, the author clarifies the many things a man expects and how ridiculous and overwhelming the amount wanted is. Even though she herself is a wife, she says she wants a wife to do all of these chores for her (274). Brady repeats “I want a wife who will…” to identify what a proper wife is supposed to do. Repetition enhances her sarcastic tone because after all that is expected of a wife, she says, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife,” (276) in the final sentence, meaning even an actual wife would want someone to do as much as she does.
In the 1930s America, women were seen as inferior to women. They were deprived of many rights and their default position was thought to be at home. Married women were by law forbidden to work and those unmarried were reduced to the worst jobs of society. In Of Mice and Men which is essentially a poignant tale about the friendship between two men, Steinbeck presents to us an unvaried sample of women. One of which actually speaks and appears for herself in person and another who although appears to have some moral values is “dead” and only appears through Lennie as a figment of his imagination.