Their enticing sexuality, he believes, tempts men to behave in ways they would otherwise not. A visit to the “flophouse” (a cheap hotel, or brothel) is enough of women for George, and he has no desire for a female companion or wife. Curley’s wife, the only woman to appear in Of Mice and Men, seems initially to support George’s view of marriage. Dissatisfied with her marriage to a brutish man and bored with life on the ranch, she is constantly looking for excitement or trouble. In one of her more revealing moments, she threatens to have the black stable-hand lynched if he complains about her to the boss.
Williams’ play is an example of a modern tragedy and Blanche is a complex tragic hero, as she is embodying both the traditional aspects of a tragic hero, but also introducing the new ideologies simultaneously. Williams introduces glimpses of an Aristotelian tragic hero in Blanche’s entrance. Blanche initially appears to fulfil the criteria of nobility; her arrival in the shabby and deprived setting of New Orleans coupled with her reaction of surprise and disbelief, ‘this- can this- be her home?’ clearly highlights her incompatibility to the surroundings immediately. Williams includes stage directions that allow the reader to build up a strong idea of Blanche’s appearance: ‘Her appearance is incongruous to this setting,’ and her distinct mannerisms. She seems to be superior compared to her surroundings, virginal and demure due to her ‘Southern belle’ upbringing and these traits are obvious in her choice of attire: ‘She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat...’ These are expensive garments that denote grandeur and wealth and ultimately purity.
Steinbeck makes the reader conflicted on how they feel about her throughout the novel until and after her death. At the start of the novel our first impressions of Curley’s wife is shared with the other men on the ranch; in a negative way. The reader dislikes her as she is interpreted as being flirtatious, craving attention and provocative. Our first reference of her is at the start where the ranchmen talk about her. “Well I think Curley’s married…a tart.” Steinbeck used the word tart, as it is an undermining term to say that a woman is promiscuous at that time.
She grew up very close to her father, but didn’t have too much of a relationship with her mother. Her mother favored Maudie more than Peyton. As stated by Hadaller “Helen ostensibly devotes herself to Maudie, but at the expense of her marriage and in so doing she takes on a martyr complex, becoming self-righteously indignant that she is not recognized in her role as a devoted and caring mother.”(Hadaller29) Helen often acted jealous of her. “Helen Loftis has been seen by various critics as a woman filled with “insane jealousy” that leads to her acts of “great cruelty” toward her family and as a mother who wears a “hypocritical mask” of love and understanding when in reality she feels naught but jealousy and hostility.” (Hadaller35) The parents’ preferences put a strain on Peyton. It was hard for her to receive so much attention from her father, but have her mother abandon her emotionally.
Curley’s wife is a character in ‘Of Mice and Men’ who is initially perceived as flirtatious and promiscuous however as the novel unfolds so does her personality and we begin to understand why she acts the way she does. Much of her behaviour can be traced back to the effects sexism had on women in America in the 1930s. She is lonely, with no other women on the ranch to relate to; her dreams have been lost and buried due to conformity and her final attempt at friendship with Lennie who she sees as someone with boundaries like herself ends in fatality. The phrase ‘lonely in a crowd’ is one that springs to mind when discussing Curley’s wife, she is surrounded by people but just can’t seem to find the attention she desires. When we are primarily introduced to her we can sense she may cause trouble among the men.
I believe that when they first got married there was some kind of love in their relationship, but when they realized they could not conceive a child Don Elias blamed his wife. Even though it was most likely he was the infertile one, he treated her as if all she was good for was to take care of him like a maid. This is what made her a hard, bitter old woman. Dona Matilida believes it was her fault, and feels guilty about not being able to provide him with a child he so greatly desired. This caused her to turn a blind eye to what he was doing around town with other women.
First of all, Wharton’s subtle action toward Ethan’s torn feelings for Mattie and being loyal to his wife. Ethan was unfortunate to have a choice in leaving his wife to be with Mattie but, tried a futile decision to both trying to do suicide. In the novel there were events in which Ethan was indecisive over rebelling against Zeena’s decision of firing Mattie. I was very compassionate toward Ethan when he heard that Mattie was being sent away as for his reaction was as said “now his one ray of light was to be extinguished”. The moments between Ethan and Zeena showed me how miserable he truly was and made me sympathize with him for their
What is just as preposterous is how the upper, middle, and working classes differ in cultures because of their financial circumstances they find themselves in. Cate Woolner and Dan Croteau are a great example of how bizarrely different their relationship is because of their social status. Tamar Lewin explains, "Croteau...grew up in Keene, an old mill town in southern New Hampshire...had a difficult
As the book progresses further, we soon learn more and more why Irene’s feelings of resentment towards Clare are justifiable. Growing up, Clare had “never been exactly one of the group” (Larsen 20) and always wanted more out of life. Her desires and light skin eventually landed her in the “other world,” passing off as white. Irene finds especially shocking how Clare could just drop her entire heritage like a brick and live with someone who considers African-Americans “black scrimy devils” (Larsen 40). Here we see the first signs of racial and sexual tension that exists between the two women.
Many writers argues that stereotypes causes many trouble to people's lives in kinds of aspects and bring them a lot of troubles. Cofer points out that media use the image of Latina women lead people to misunderstanding them. She describes the terrible experiences that the boss of Puerto Rican women proposed the unfair condition to decide their future of jobs in the factories and men would often misinterpret their tight skirts and jingling bracelets as a lure. In the same way, Gup provides the example that people believe the stereotypes and these stereotypes also place a crushing burden on Asian-Americans. Gup argues the stereotype makes people feel uncomfortable because that his teacher think he could and should do better just because he is a Jew.