Curly's wife is so lost, lonely and insignificant that Steinbeck does not even give her a name. She spends the novel trying to find company under the guise of looking for her husband. Curly is in fact an intensely abusive person with a major case of small-guy complex. The irony is that while she pretends to be looking for Curly, she is actually trying to avoid him. The men on the ranch fear Curly's wife.
HOW DOES STEINBECK PRESENT CURLEY’S WIFE IN OF MICE AND MEN Steinbeck introduces Curley’s Wife into the novella in a negative way. We first hear of her through gossip after George and Lennie arrive at the ranch. Candy says she gives the men on the ranch ‘the eye’ and calls her ‘…a tart’. He is warning them of her flirtatious ways and hesitates before calling her a tart as he knows what he’s saying is scandalous. He also says ‘wait’ll you see Curley’s wife’.
Explore the ways in which Curley’s wife is presented and developed in Of Mice and Men The first time the reader is introduced to Curley’s wife is when Candy tells George that Curley has recently got married and that ‘he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife’. She is spoken as though she is a pet/animal who needs soft, gentle hands when touched. This method of introduction does not present Curley’s wife in a favourable light. The men at the ranch are gossiping about her sex life which has been made public to them. 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.
Compare the ways the poet presents ideas about relationships in Sister Maude and Farmers Bride. In Sister Maude Rossetti presents a quarrel between the two sisters. This is shown when she says ‘but sister Maude shall get no sleep’; this suggests that she thinks her sister will go to hell because of what she has done. The fact that she doesn’t use a personal pronoun for her sister suggests that she has disowned her and believes that she is no longer part of the family. The phrase ‘no sleep’ is a euphemism for death and suggests that she will pay for what she has done.
Curley's wife shattered Lennie and George's dream of a farm the same way Eve tempted Adam to eat from the forbidden tree, ending their paradise. By referring to her as 'Curley's wife' instead of giving her a name he depicts how women were second to men, inferring she was Curley's property. Another reason Steinbeck doesn't give her a name is to show that he believes women are minor compared to men; therefore they don't deserve a name. Steinbeck makes a reference to prostitutes in Sandy's place, illustrating the idea that women were just objects in the hands of men making them victims of society. He exposes the idea that "women are treated as nothing more than sexual objects" (Fisher and Silber 254).
How Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife in this passage above? Intro: In of mice and men, Curleys Wife is presented in many numerous ways. Steinbeck depicts Curley’s wife not as a villain, but rather as a victim. Like the ranch-hands, she is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better life. She's the only female character in the novel, and she's never given a name and is only referred to in reference to her husband.
After giving up her dream of being an actress, she settles down with a man she doesn’t even like and begins to wallow in her dissatisfaction with the choices she has made. “’I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself’” (88), she says. Curley’s attitude toward his wife and the other men on the ranch worsens as time goes by, driving the woman away. She wanders from building to building claiming that she’s looking for Curley, when she actually just wants to have a conversation with anyone.
She also acts flirtatiously in front of the other ranch workers. Through her physical appearance and her own actions, Candy’s description of her seems very accurate. Our negative feelings towards her begin to change when she enters Crooks’ residence. Curley’s wife enters asking for Curley and receives cold hearted responses from the men; she then goes on to talk about her loneliness and isolation, and then begins to start verbally attacking the men and aims the reason for doing so, towards Curley. After Crooks asks her to leave, she threatens him, she says “listen nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” she discriminates him and puts him down, so she feels in power.
Already, the reader is introduced to the idea that Curley's wife is an immoral "tart" which is strengthened upon her first appearance, which follows shortly after. She is first seen in the doorway of the bunkhouse , asking about the location of her husband, which is soon revealed as being a weak excuse to interact with the ranchers. She is wearing a "red cotton house dress" and a pair of mules decorated with "bouquets of red ostrich feathers." emphasisinig her sexual presence as the colour red, which is expressed repeatedly when Curley's wife's clothes are described, is often reffered to as the colour of love and passion. Additionally, the bouquets of ostrich feathers, also described as red, on the insteps of her shoes would have been extremely expensive in the times Of Mice and Men was set; and that Curley's wife not only wears them on her feet but in the middle of the 'Dust Bowl' expresses her desperate need for attention as she is willing to possibly ruin her best shoes in order to entice the ranchers, despite the fact that she has a husband.
Steinbeck uses the word ‘Coulda’ to show that Curley’s wife thinks she had the potential to be a movie star but she ended up with a guy who she hates. We know this because she says ‘I don’t like Curley’, this is interesting because every time she engages into conversation with other men she is always looking for Curley whereas now she says she don’t like him. This makes the reader think that she was using Curley as excuse to communicate with other characters and this shows her desire for attention like we discussed in the previous pare graph but ultimately shows that she is useless without Curley. Steinbeck did this because he wanted the audience to understand not always you get what your dream and not all Americans got the best out the American dreams, some peoples dreams ware destroyed in matter of seconds as we seen in this chapter as Curley's wife dies with it ends Georges Linnes, Curley's wife and Candy's dreams. In Addition, the fact that she thinks that she had the potential to be a movie star links to