Curley's Wife Jailbait Analysis
“I ain’t never seen no piece of jailbait worse than her”
What is the reader meant to think about Curley’s wife?
Curley’s wife eventually goes on to be the very cause of the destruction of George and Lennie’s dream and this statement acts as a foreshadowing device for the detrimental role she’ll eventually play. The term ‘jailbait’ itself carries various connotations. The dictionary definition is ‘a young woman, or young women collectively, considered in sexual terms but under the age of consent’ and from that itself we can see that the term carries sexual implications. The beginning of the word, ‘jail’ implies that she is dangerous while ‘bait’ implies that as a character, she would reel people in to harmful situations and this overall creates the impression that Steinbeck wants us to have of her; someone that is destructive, dangerous and almost destined to condemn the others.
Our first introduction to …show more content…
However, there are elements of her character that gain sympathy from the reader throughout the novel and that is only made stronger at the end of the book, when she dies. As a character, her role doesn’t serve for much other than to be the cause of the destruction of The Dream, and this in itself makes the readers despise her, much like Candy does for the very same reason. In spite of this, she is still shown as lonely, and in a way brave for doing what the guys don’t do; finding the attention they so desperately crave. The reader isn’t meant to think much about Curley’s wife in the literal sense but she is a character that causes the reader to think, to think about the subtle suggestions and implications in the novel and to think about the confined, trapped, detrimental lives the characters on the farm suffer and the way society makes life difficult for people based on it’s
What is the reader meant to think about Curley’s wife?
Curley’s wife eventually goes on to be the very cause of the destruction of George and Lennie’s dream and this statement acts as a foreshadowing device for the detrimental role she’ll eventually play. The term ‘jailbait’ itself carries various connotations. The dictionary definition is ‘a young woman, or young women collectively, considered in sexual terms but under the age of consent’ and from that itself we can see that the term carries sexual implications. The beginning of the word, ‘jail’ implies that she is dangerous while ‘bait’ implies that as a character, she would reel people in to harmful situations and this overall creates the impression that Steinbeck wants us to have of her; someone that is destructive, dangerous and almost destined to condemn the others.
Our first introduction to …show more content…
However, there are elements of her character that gain sympathy from the reader throughout the novel and that is only made stronger at the end of the book, when she dies. As a character, her role doesn’t serve for much other than to be the cause of the destruction of The Dream, and this in itself makes the readers despise her, much like Candy does for the very same reason. In spite of this, she is still shown as lonely, and in a way brave for doing what the guys don’t do; finding the attention they so desperately crave. The reader isn’t meant to think much about Curley’s wife in the literal sense but she is a character that causes the reader to think, to think about the subtle suggestions and implications in the novel and to think about the confined, trapped, detrimental lives the characters on the farm suffer and the way society makes life difficult for people based on it’s