She would flirt with the ranch hands for her own fun and she stupidly tried the same with Lennie. She was racist and a bit of a "tart". You could also look at her sympathetically. She was the lonely wife of jealous husband. All she wanted is someone to talk to but all there was were the ranch hands who didn't want anything to do with her because they would get in trouble.
The reader now thinks that Curley’s wife was misunderstood, lonely and didn’t deserve the abusive comments she received. Candy then says ‘you ain’t wanted here’ making the reader feel more apologetic towards her. Despite this she calls them ‘a bunch of bindle stiffs’ and claims that she is only there because ‘they ain’t nobody else’. She then turned on crooks ‘in scorn “listen nigger”’ this is very cruel and spiteful but maybe she was only retaliating. She also tries to ally with them when she says ‘I’d like to bust him myself’, she is referring to Curley and says how she also hates him too.
Candy views Curley‟s Wife as inferior and is shown in Crooks‟ room when he says „you let this guy alone, don‟t you do no messin‟ with him,‟ this shows his view the Curley‟s Wife is a tart because when he says „messin‟ around‟ he means flirting which justifys his view on Curley‟s Wife. Candy finally threatens to tell Curley that his wife was in Crooks‟ room, he does this because the view at the time is of women being man‟s possession and by telling Curley it would annoy him and get her in serious trouble, this shows the inferiority of woman in America at the
Choose one character introduced in chapter 2 and write 2 paragraphs on how Steinbeck presents them. Use language features and comment on the effect of these on the reader. In Of Mice and Men, chapter 2, Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as a young flirtatious ‘girl’ who is trying to seek attention of all the men on the ranch through her physical appearance. This is seen through the use of invective language ‘well, I think Curley’s married … a tart’ by candy. The harsh use of word ‘tart’ for Curley’s wife before her introduction in the novella suggests that her actions are not praised by the men on the ranch .This also implies that Steinbeck wants to creates a false impression about Curley’s wife in the readers head which leads them to prejudice before meeting her.
“She turned to him in scorn. ‘Listen, Nigger, she said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’” Crooks knows automatically what she means as Curley’s wife becomes very aggressive and extremely racist towards Crooks. Curley’s wife is shocked that he even spoke to her and Steinbeck projects this though using the word “scorn”. Curley’s wife has taken complete control of the situation by implying that she would get him lynched, this was typical of the time period the book is set in.
‘Nigger, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy, it ain’t even funny.’ This statement is intimidating and suggests that she can get Crook’s hanged as he was rude to her and that she can get him lynched. Steinbeck shows the reader, the racism that existed in 1930’s America and this also shows how dangerous she can be by abusing her power and trying to show control over Crook’s who is the only black person on the ranch Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife to show isolation. ‘I get lonely, ‘I get awful lonely’. This use of repetition stresses the loneliness that she experiences. All she has to talk to is ‘nobody but Curley’.
One example of her harassment is displayed when she meets George and Lennie on the first day of their arrival. Curley’s wife flirts with the two new men (Steinbeck, 64). Next, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing once more to show that Curley’s wife is not yet done with Lennie. While George and some of the other workers are down at the whorehouse, Curley’s wife flirts with Lennie in the barn in front of Candy and Crooks. One example of harassment is the mental attack on Lennie.
Towards the end of the story she find Lennie in the barn and start being flirty because she knows she can make him talk to her. This was a bad quality of hers though because it ultimately led to her demise. The final type of power is the power of authority from Curly and his dad. Curly’s dad is the boss which give Curly his own power, or so he sees it. Curly’s dad has the power to fire anyone he doesn’t like from the farm which is true authority.
This also for shadow’s the type of attention Curly’s wife will receive. As revealed by Steinbeck we see a more vindictive side to Curly’s wife as she verbally attacks Crooks. ‘Well you keep your place then, Nigger!’ Given her low status in the overall hierarchy on the ranch, she is aware of being more powerful than the black stable buck Crook’s. ‘You know what I could do, I could get ya lynched.’ Curly’s wife uses her power to her advantage even if it’s totally unfair. Crooks is the only person on the ranch who has lower social status than her this therefore allows her to overpower him and boss him around as much as she
John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men The fact that in the first line Curley's wife is described to have cut of the ray of light shows that she is of somewhat danger to both George and Lennie. Another point is Steinbeck uses the word glanced, ‘Both men glanced up’, this show that both George and Lennie will be distracted by Curley’s wife, but not for long as the verb ‘glanced’ means to look quickly or briefly. Furthermore the text later goes on to say how she was heavily made up in rouge lips, red finger nails, with red ostrich feathers on top of her red shoes. The fact that Steinbeck describes her to be heavily made up in mainly the colour red shows how she is presented to already be sexualised within the first three lines. In the extract Steinbeck