In John Steinbeck’s novella “Of nice and men”, John introduced us to a character called Curley’s wife, she plays a complex and misfit character in this novella as no one else in this novella relates to her. In this essay I will discuss her The first mention of Curley’s wife was when Candy describes her to George in the bunk house. Candy gives us a strong impression that Curley’s wife is flirtatious and even promiscuous female before we even meet her. As he says that “she’s get the eye” which means instead of being faithful to her husband. She tends to look for other male ranchers.
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.
Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as nameless throughout the novella this presents her as Curley’s possession. By presenting us with one female character Steinbeck is indicating there is no real place for a woman on the ranch. Also, I think he reflects the history of women in the Great Depression onto Curley’s wife, how woman were considered inferior to men. Before George has met Curley’s wife Candy begins to tell George about her: “only been two weeks and she’s already got the eye.” ‘Eye’ signifies to us that she is unfaithful to her husband as she finds other men attractive, this makes the reader disapprove of her. Steinbeck makes us feel dislike by manipulating us into think she’s seeking attention inappropriately.
Also how he has no respect for Roselyn. T rays insecurities show when he always make Lilly feel guilty abut her mom leaving and shooting her, even though he inflicted that on the house hold. CD. Lilly wasn't ever happy, and had this guilty lingering about her mother. She thought that herself was the problem, which made T rye aggressive and it was her fault not T-rays.
Of Mice and Men Character study Curley’s wife In this character study I will examine the portrayal of Curley’s wife in the novella Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. This character is the only woman in the plot (apart from the dead Aunt Clara and prostitutes) and is given no name. This tells us that she is of little significance and merely a possession or rather just Curley’s wife. We are first introduced to the nameless character in chapter two where Candy describes her as a ‘tart’ in spite of the fact that she has recently got married. He insinuates that she gives all the guys ‘the eye’ and is a loose woman.
But her mother forbids her from this. Therefore, she married Curley, after only knowing him for two weeks. She admits that she doesn’t even like Curley, that she only married him to escape her mother. I think Steinbeck chose to name this character ‘Curley’s Wife’ because it shows how unimportant she is, how she will never reach her dream and make something of herself. It also shows how she is Curley’s property and
Of Mice and Men is filled with characters such as this, which are unable to find a way out of their lonely lives. The loneliness in this story builds and builds and never is allowed to escape. By never allowing its escape, Steinbeck effectively forms a solid backing for the characters and events in his novel. Lennie's loneliness chiefly stems from the fact that he is both mentally undeveloped and very big and strong. His retardation sometimes causes others at the ranch to shun him; even to the point of thinking he is "cuckoo."
The title "Of Mice and Men". Firstly Steinbeck portrays Curley's wife as a lonely character. Newly married and in a strange place, she is forbidden by Curley to talk to anyone but him. To counter this, she constantly approaches the ranch hands on the excuse of looking for Curley. The only result is that the men regard her as a "slut", and Curley becomes even more intensely jealous.
We couldn’t keep a fire like that going, not if we tried.”(William Golding p.52) And since he doesn’t have a good relationship with others, they are always mean to him. However Jack commented back “ A fat lot, you tried.. You just sat.” Clearly just cause of his weight , everyone doesn’t want to have any relationship with him. Hence, even though Simon gets bullied, his relationship with others it better then Piggy’s, cause the boys just consider him, as a fat, lazy potty mouth just there. Nevertheless, Piggy and Simon are nothing alike in appearance. Piggy is obviously chubby, fat, wears glasses.
Despite their immense differences in build, it is the smaller and weaker George who takes care of the stronger and more powerful Lennie. Another key difference between George and Lennie is their mental ability. Lennie is very slow and has the brain capacity of a child. He has a hard time remembering simple things and doesn't understand his own strength, which gets Lennie in many sticky situations throughout the novel. George said to Lennie, once, in a fit of frustration after one of Lennie's many screw ups "You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get.