Preview

Essay On Curley's Wife

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
598 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On Curley's Wife
The only female character in the story, Curley’s wife is never given a name and is only mentioned in reference to her husband. The men on the farm refer to her as a “tramp,” or a “tart,” She represents the temptation of female sexuality in a male-dominated world. ‘She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.” (Steinbeck 29) Steinbeck depicts Curley’s wife not as a villain, but rather as a victim. She is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better life.
Craving attention and knowing that the boys in the ranch go all
…show more content…
Lennie's personality is like that of a child. He is innocent and mentally handicapped with no ability to understand abstract concepts like death, nor when something is wrong. Curley’s wife only approaches other guys in the open, to make curley jealous and angry. Trying to get his attention, stir up trouble with the farm hands. She only approaches Lennie only when he’s alone. Curley's wife manipulates Lennie in the barn as she tries different ways to engage him in conversation. When these methods fail, she hears Lennie sadly mutter, "Jus' my pup" and she sympathies him, moving closer to him and speaking in a soothing, motherly manner. When she discovers that Lennie likes to touch soft things like velvet, she entices him into stroking her hair. (89)
Having never reached her full potential, and it appears to have no friend and her husband doesn’t give her the attention she desires. At first she is shown as a negative character and a villain and towards the end her positive features are revealed and she becomes more of a victim then a villain. In the end of “of mice and men” you learn that the story is about broken dreams and loneness. Both of which are curley’s wife and her life, showing the broken dreams just like so many other characters in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When Curleys’ wife first appears in the book Lennie was fascinated by her looks and thinks that she is very pretty. You know this because he looks at her from top to bottom. These facts are true because in the book it says “Lennie’s eyes moved down her body.” To show that Lennie was fascinated by her looks it says “Lennie watched her, fascinated”. Another way that we know that Lennie thought that she was pretty is that after she leaves the bunk house Lennie then says “she was purty.” These three quotes show that Lennie was very interested in Curleys’ wife’s appearance and thought that she was pretty indeed. But by Lennie thinking that she was pretty it then caused conflict between Lennie and George. George gets angry with Lennie so her grabs him by the ear and shakes him. Then he says to him “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.” Lennie then says that he wants to leave because the place isn’t good for them. George also agrees but they have to stay in order to get the money they needed for their dream house.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Curley's Wife Comparison

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although the film Of Mice and Men directed by Gary Sinise is based off the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the film has some differences that shifts the readers/viewers opinion of the characters in a different way. Curley’s wife is looked at in a different perspective by the viewers in the film by the senses that were added and deleted from the novel. In the book the reader sees her as mean and full of herself but in the film Curley’s wife doesn’t seem mean she appears like she is looking for attention and wanting to feel recognized. In the story, as Lennie, Crooks, and Candy were talking about the dream, Curley’s wife comes in and says to Crooks, “‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley’s Wife is portrayed as a “tart” and “tramp” according to the male characters in Of Mice and Men. She frequently flirts with the ranch hands on her father-in-laws’ farm. Even though she’s a trouble maker, Curley’s Wife experiences extreme loneliness and the hurt of her own broken dream. She explains on page 97 that she had a chance at an acting career but instead she was trapped into living an unhappy life with Curley. This proves that Curley’s wife is not a heartless “bitch” but actually a human being that has aspirations and…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley S Wife Essay

    • 484 Words
    • 1 Page

    what he thinks about her. When Curley’s wife is talking to the guys, she is always grabbing…

    • 484 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you still remember Curley's wife? The only female character in Of Mice Of Men book. She is the pretty, flirtatious, and unnamed wife of Curley. She has red lips and fingernails and wears heavy makeup. Her hairs hangs in tight sausage curls, and her red shoes are decorated at the instep with red ostrich feathers. She is said by the men to give them “the eye”. The author John Steinbeck purposely didn't give her a name because he wants us to determine if she is a victim or a villain. It the most popular topic that high school students are arguing about. This story set deep in the farmlands of the 1930’s Salina Valley. Imagine the life during the Great Depression and she is the only female on the ranch do you think she is really a villain? Although Curley's wife is describe as a tart but I think she is a victim because she is lonely, men are being prejudice, and it the time period during the Great Depression.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Section 5- with Lennie

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages

    We begin to see Curley’s wife’s motherly nature when Steinbeck writes ‘She moved closer to him and she spoke soothingly’. Although this expresses her motherly tendencies it also outlines her first mistake. Curley’s wife misplaces her trust in people. She believes people that she hardly knows and hurts herself in the process. Also, although she is consoling Lennie, she is presented as a victim of what Lennie might…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the passage, Steinbeck uses contrast and repetition to create strong imagery in our minds regarding Curley’s wife. The careful juxtaposition of ‘the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off’ and ‘a girl’ is surprising and shows the reader how despite these tones of darkness and immorality conveyed Steinbeck about her, she is but a young, naïve little girl. She is also ‘looking in’, which effectively conveys curiosity and shows how apart from everyone she is, and could suggest a longing for…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (77). Finally, when Curley’s wife enters the barn near the end of the book she makes Lennie listen to her about her past. How she was going to become an actor but her mom wouldn't let her because she was only fifteen.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley picks a fight with Lennie because he doesn’t like big guys and prefers little guys.…

    • 77 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Outline For Curley's Wife

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck creates characters that play important roles throughout the story that contribute to themes and connect readers to an overall focus. Curley’s wife, a minor, but significant character in the story, contributes to the theme and is partly responsible for Lennie’s death. Her sinful actions and petty personality make her a character that isn’t respected by others and is known for being trouble around the ranch. Disregarding her flirtations ways and overall self-absorbance, her dreams of a promising future are destroyed. Her gaudy appearance and constant search for Curley makes the men on the ranch view her as a cheater and inappropriate woman. However, after hearing her story, some of…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “ Of mice and men” by John Steinbeck gives us reason to believe that Curley himself is to blame for his wife’s death. Curley is the one to blame for his wife's death because if he had shown her the attention she desired Lennie then she wouldn't have even tried to hit on Lennie, and the whole situation could have been avoided.…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What does it mean to be a victim of loneliness? Merriam-Webster defines it as “being without company; cut off from others”. In the novel Of Mice and Men we see one character experiencing true loneliness, Curley’s wife. Set in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, on a ranch in California, Of Mice and Men follows the journey of two men. When these two men, George and Lennie, come to work on the ranch, it sends the whole ranch in a new direction. Curley’s wife just hopes that she can find a companion, and who better than new people. But one thing always stands in her way, her loneliness. Curley’s wife is a major victim of loneliness because of her failed dreams, her struggle to be someone’s friend, and her lack of love.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The only female character in the novel whose name has been given to readers as Curley’s Wife is a paradox within her own life and its circumstances, and where she ended up as a result. Throughout the novel she was upset at the way she was living because she claimed that she could have “ ‘...been in the movies, an[d] had nice clothes...’ ” however the unfortunate truth was that she was stuck living the life she was living (Steinbeck 89). This as well as the fact that readers constantly saw her as mean and toxic, but only in her death they saw her as she truly was; “... the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone…” and she looked very plain and beautiful (Steinbeck 92-93). She, much like many other characters in the novel, had a dream for herself. However the fact is that she unfortunately failed to see that dream become a reality. Steinbeck used the paradox in the way the men on the ranch saw her to show how unfairly treated she was. He showed this through her death, displayed as pure and beautiful, unlike the manipulative creature readers had come to know thanks to the perception of the men. It is unfortunate that she never lived long enough to pursue her dreams, instead stuck in a place where she was not happy and trapped in a failing marriage. The paradox is simple, she had dreams, and they were crushed. Not everybody, as saddening as it is, gets to live their ideal life. Most do, but some tend to stop…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the 1930's in California, where and when the novel "of mice and men" was set, women were frequently suppressed and treated as objects. They were put down and often abused. They were forced to do anything their husband says otherwise they were condemned by the family and general public. Several of these issues are reflected in the character of Curley's wife. This character is portrayed in many different ways in the different stages of her life. This character is nameless and is only ever referred to as 'Curley's wife'. I think this may mean that she is not a major part and as a woman is thought of as insignificant and maybe Steinbeck feels that it is not necessary to name her as it was viewed at the time as she does not need or deserve one. This is why I think that she should be sympathised.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Women 1930s

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the story of mice and men the story is set in that time and the problems they were facing. Curley’s wife was one of the women in the story. She really wanted and was trying to be a femmes’ fatales. To show the sexism in the time the writer john Steinbeck didn’t even give her a name. She was referred to as just Curley’s wife.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays