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.
Holden’s fear of change contributes to his resistance of the process of maturity. This is because Holden considers becoming mature a substantial change in his life and he, therefore, resists it. When Holden hired a prostitute, he realised that having sex with a prostitute would contribute to his progress to adulthood. Therefore, he attempted to get out of it by diverting the topics of the conversations he had with the prostitute, even though he knew it was a ‘childish thing’. It is notable that Holden never directly mentioned that he disliked sex; He merely says that he was ‘feeling so damn peculiar.’ His thoughts about the museum of Natural History demonstrate his fear of change.
The reader can understand from those lines that Karas’s wife has always had bad dreams. The reader can gather from the information Gay provides, that dreaming plays an important role in the story because Karas obviously does not want to be sober and feel the pain of his wife leaving him. He drinks to feel like he is only dreaming, and reality does not
On one side Holden’s interest in human interactions drive him to find and build relationships of his own, but on the other hand he uses his alienation as a wall of protection from outside forces. An instance of this is when he goes on a date with Sally Hayes; his solitude forces him to crave love and affection from another human being but his isolation and fear of being hurt from another person cause him to drive off people easily. In conclusion we learn that Holden feels isolated from everyone and everything. In spite of living a seemingly happy life and going to one of the best schools in the country, Holden hates everything and everyone and believes everyone is fake. Holden’s sense of superiority is just a veil to cover his insecurities and his social criticism of everyone are just ways to project his negative qualities onto another person to make himself feel
Steinbeck leads the reader to believe that Curley does not really care about his wife; if he did, he would not be flaunting their private life and he would consider her dignity. This instantly degrades Curley’s wife’s reputation. Candy goes on further to describe her character by telling George that ‘she got the eye…I seen her give Slim the eye’. ‘The eye’ is suggesting that she is looking at other men whilst being married which creates a negative impression of her character on the reader. Steinbeck raises
Holden had nothing else better to do so he had a prostitute over but he just want to talk instead of sexually intercourse. “Where you girls from?" I asked her. She didn't answer me, though. She was busy looking around for old Peter Lorre to show up, I guess.
What could I say? I’m crying because I don’t know any of the dances?” Isabel also ends up sleeping with one of her bestfriend’s husband. Since she hasn’t had sex for awhile it was easy for her to fall into seduction. “And then he was in me and I was crying out, in pleasure… It was over and wrong… what would Liz say to me?” Besides the wrong she had done, Isabel is a good person at heart and tries to redeem herself by helping out the woman she hates most, Margaret Casey. “I had to cut myself off from the danger… Margaret had no manners.But I would help Margaret
Holden once again notices Sunny’s humane nature when she says, “ like fun you are”, instead of saying a more bitter response (Salinger pg.94). Holden repeatedly said he felt “sad”, thinking of Sunny “going in a sore and buying” the green dress, who would unexpectedly and sadly be used for prostitution (Salinger pg. 95) As Holden got more personal with Sunny, she revealed her actions before “going to work”. Holden begins to imagine Sunny in her day hours, thinking of her as a person instead of a whore. As Holden got closer to sex he tried to be more societal with her, to forbear sexual relations , and to talk to her instead: “I said I’d pay you for coming and all” (Salinger pg.
This is manifest when she attempts to manipulate situations and the male characters with her sexual presence. This is evidenced when Steinbeck uses the character of Whit after George has told him he hasn't seen Curley's new wife to state “Well stick around an' keep your eyes open. You'll see plenty. She ain't concealing nothing..” Steinbeck is effective in showing women in the 1930's had very little power and the only power we are sure they had was a seductive one. Steinbeck’s treatment of women was not a positive one as some of the ranch workers described her as a ‘bitch’, ‘tramp’ and ‘tart’.
Mrs. Mooney was previously involved in a dysfunctional marriage to a “shabby stooped little drunkard” (61). Similar to her own marriage, Mrs. Mooney indirectly forces Polly to marry for money. Mrs. Mooney is a ruthless character as a result of her previous troubles. Consequently, Mrs. Mooney’s maternal connection with Polly is non-existent, turning their relationship into a business. When Mrs. Mooney is observing Polly’s interactions with young men, she becomes frustrated that “none of [the men] meant business” and considers sending Polly back to her previous job (63).