This can partly be blamed on the fact that many of the itinerant workers only knew women from the ‘cat-house’. This of course distorts their opinion of women. George for example thinks she is no better than a prostitute, saying ‘she’d clear out for twenty bucks’, implying she has very low morals. This opinion of her is empathised when Candy says ‘Well – she got the eye’ meaning she is overly flirtatious with the ranch workers. Of course, the reader, having not met her yet, cannot be sure about whether or not Candy is misinterpreting her over friendliness as flirtatious behaviour.
Everyone on the ranch called Curleys Wife a ''tart'' because she flirts and the ranch men said ''Shes got the eyes''. Nobody on the ranch understood Curley's Wife and seen that Curley made her life very unpleasant, the only reason Curley's Wife flirted with other men was because Curley made her feel so isolated and alone. She had no friends or anyone to talk to on the ranch and Curley treated her as more of a possesion than his
What is also similar is that when the other ranch hands have a problem with either of the two they complain to their ‘owners’. When Carlson feels Candy’s dog is of no use he questions “why’n’t you just shoot him Candy?” And when controversy sparks over Curley and his wife Carlson again questions “why’n’t you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?” This cruel comparison again shows how women were thought of In the 1930s America, the effect it has on the reader is also a cruel and sharp one. It makes the reader belittle Curley’s wife and not think much of her but however on the other hand it may make some readers sympathise with her and actually feel sorry for
Never achieving her dreams paragraph quotes: Steinbeck inevitably brings out the reader’s sympathy towards Curley’s Wife when she dies in the book. In the scene where Lennie kills Curley’s Wife, we are made to understand that she is just as helpless to Lennie’s brute force as the mouse or the dog were earlier in the book. Furthermore the word “writhed”, that is used to describe Curley’s Wife as she attempts to escape
Steinbeck presents her as a negative married woman. She has been presented first through the dialogue of ranch-hand Candy when he describes her to George. His opinion is very sexist towards Curley’s wife as he says “Curley married...a tart”. This shows Steinbeck presents her in a very crude manner. The word “tart” shows the immediate impression and effect Curley’s wife has on the other men on the ranch.
After that Lennie is killed, shattering all hopes and dreams George had, as well as ending a long term relationship. ‘why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?’, during the 1930’s America was going through ‘The Great Depression’ everything that people lived on were hopes and dreams because people had nothing else to keep them going but the determination to fulfill the American dream ; power, fame and fortune. The murder of the one dog created a domino effect which shattered dreams, took away lives and ended relationships. The death of the puppy could foreshadow the ending of Curley’s wife, ‘a little dead puppy that lay in front of him’, the puppy was small helpless and delicate as was she. Both could not manage the power of Lennie and both ended up on the hay dead and alone ‘Curley’s wife lay with a half covering of yellow hay.
Curley’s wife would always try to show more of herself, and of course the reaction of the men was to call her a “tramp” and a “rat trap”. This is also subtly changing the readers view. We can see that all the men on the Ranch feel the same way about her. Steinbeck almost puts you in the position of Lennie and George, so whenever she insults them, so also insults you, further exaggerating what you feel about Curley’s wife. For example, when she says “They left all the weak ones here” all the men ignore her to let her know that she isn’t wanted, and Crooks tells her to get out.
She has no friends therefore has a lonely existence. Our first impression of Curley’s wife is by the men on the ranch and what they think about her. Some of the words the men use to describe her include ‘‘tart’’ ‘‘jail-bait’’ and ‘‘she got the eye.’’ These all describe her to be dangerous before we first see her. When we’re first introduced to Curley’s wife she is heavily made up with red lipstick and red ostrich feathers both of which symbolise sexuality as well as danger. She has a very flirtatious nature which makes her husband jealous.
She is a lonely character constantly searching for attention, even if it is from ranch workers, cripples and the coloured. Curley's wife is made to show her disgust at married life by being 'married two weeks an' got the eye', this makes the ranch workers towards her bitter and unhappy as they see her as a tart who has no reason to be near them as she will only lead to trouble. Steinbeck uses Curley's wife's character along with others to show that many people of that time had dreams, hers was that she 'could be in the pitchers' we find out about her dream just before her death this heightens the impact of the news. She knows that she is no longer able to fulfil her own dream, as she is no longer her own person but Curley's, she turns her anger into the form of making Curley jealous by flirting with other men. Despite the fact that she wants to believe she had a chance in the pictures she knows she had no chance after the promised
Sykes was very ungrateful and didn’t appreciate his wife, he tried to get her out of the way so he can be with his mistress Bertha. The saying “Karma is a bitch,” relates to the story because, Sykes tried poisoning his wife with a rattlesnake, but instead he was bitten and died from the poison. The story unfolds when Sykes got home and verbally abused his wife, but she stood up and faced him without any fear in her eyes, that was the breaking point for Delia, despite all her hard work he didn’t appreciate her, so she decided to stand up for herself and no longer endure her husband’s abuse. Sykes character unfolds when the narrator painted a picture of what he really is and his thoughts against his wife, he was wicked and cruel against his wife but was sweet and caring towards his mistress Bertha. He would go all out just to get Delia out of his way of being happy with his mistress.