Curley’s wife is portrayed as being a whore – but this is only due to the way she dresses, her provocative ways and the way she acts around men, as if she is aware of her femininity. This could suggest that she is only like this because she is bored, like it is something to do – something interesting for a change. She is constantly trying to get people to notice her. But, because of Lennie’s purity and innocence, he doesn’t see her in the way other men do – a sexual object. When Steinbeck quotes “And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Lennie and sat beside him”, it is clear to the audience that Curley’s Wife is using her sexuality as an object to create some sort of excitement for herself.
The article “Raunch Culture” by Ariel Levy discusses how life in the twenty first century has become very raunchy and erotic. She talks about how easy it is to blame the males of our culture for objectifying women. However, it is the women who are volunteering to have these pornographic or racy photographs and videos taken of themselves. Even women athletes are posing for scantily clad pictures, and they are getting more attention for that than their specialized sporting events. This article discusses that women taking control of their sexuality and objectifying themselves are not, in fact, the same thing.
Once one thing goes wrong you’re scared to try it again. When Janie went through two marriages where they controlled her, where she had no freedom, and where they both ended badly, we can understand why she is hesitant. After Janie and Teacake got married she had all the fears and doubts in the world, especially after he stole her money. But after returning from gambling the money away with almost double of it back she realized she wanted to be a part of everything Teacake did. “…Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love.
In the times John Steinbeck lived in women were not held in high regard but they were just present to serve men. However, they still tried to yearn for a better future by exploiting men. The character Curley's wife in the novel is a victim of society and her dream. She is married to Curley who neglects her and so because of her loneliness she is always seeking attention. She wears too much makeup and dresses like a "whore"
The unequal distribution of domestic responsibilities has held women back for generations; it still today continues to hinder women’s progression in the work-place. It seems like everyone thinks mum will stay at home and do the dishes, her little boy will grow up to become a big, strong man but not her daughter, of course, she is far too busy washing her own children’s dishes. But it is not just women who suffer sexism, men do also. For example: Shelia’s Wheels sell cheaper car insurance to women only, and they say it's because statistics show women to be safer drivers. Would it would be fair for a bank to offer men better rates on loans if stats showed that men were better at paying back loans than women were, utterly ludicrous.
He tried to save his wife from the humiliation and the torture she was about to endure, but she made it very clear through her trial how she felt about him. “‘I have my own man?” Mu glanced at her husband and smirked. She straightened up and said, “My man is nothing. He is no good, I mean in bed. He always comes before I feel anything.’” She treats her husband poorly in front of the whole town, even after he tried to help her out.
She lives a stagnant life and does not move forward in finding the fulfillment she needs. Although she tried to make conversation that would please her husband by asking him, “Henry, could we have wine at dinner?” and, “Henry, at those prized fights, do the men hurt each other very much?” (p. 636), this is a conversation that would only interest Elisa’s husband and not herself. Elisa seems to have accepted the societal norms of living by the man’s rules. Women in this era had their housewife duties and took care of their husbands regardless of what their needs or wants were. Gender inequality was normal during the time this story was written.
A feminist point of view would find these women to be flawed, for they cannot survive without the assistance of a man. The book tells the story of a “manly life” in first person dialogue. Considering every female Odysseus encounters “falls in love” with, we can equate that he makes his own problems based off of his ego. In a way, the Odyssey is not just the tale of the wanderings of Odysseus. The poet has made it into a type of descriptive catalog of women, in which he examines women of all kinds and from all backgrounds through objectification.
Infidelity today is the number one killer of marriages and relationships, and can be looked at as a symptom for non-working marriages. In the novel there was a lack of love and respect in the marriages, and there wasn’t anyone trying to fix their marriages either because they were around for their spouse’s money, or cheated because they were rich and felt could get away with it. There was one couple in particular that demonstrated these examples of infidelity in the novel. The couple was Daisy and Tom. Daisy stayed married to Tom because he was buying her happiness and his money, while deep down, she was really hurt and sad about the relationship.
When the Knight finally does find out what it is that women want, he is told that it’s power over the husbands, that’s a pretty feminist statement for a time when women were still considered property. But as feminist as that may seem, is the Wife of Bath really a depiction of early feminism, or a crazy lady? While some might see the Wife as a feminist, she really is just an over-controlling woman, in her 6 times being married, reprimanding her husband