Explore the significance of Curley's Wife
Explore the significance of Curley’s wife.
The novella ‘’of mice and men’’ was published in 1937 and written by John Steinbeck. It was set at the time of the great depression and was written to protest against the way workers were treated. It focuses mainly on the effects that this time had on people – vulnerability, sexism, racism and dreams. This essay explores the significance of Curley’s wife in the novel. How she is treated by the workers on the ranch and how she is discriminated for many different reasons, not necessary valid ones.
Curley’s wife is excluded for being female. A lot of the time she is found going around the ranch looking for attention from the workers. This is because her marriage with Curly does not satisfy her. She states to Lennie in the novel ‘’I don’t like Curly. He ain’t a nice fella’’. Carlson also states in the novel ‘’women should be at home where she belongs’’. The way she is excluded from a place physical work shows how women were portrayed in the 1930’s. Instead she is expected to be in the house all day cooking, cleaning and satisfying her husband, but you can see that this isn’t the lifestyle she opted for. She clearly feels insecure because of how lonely she is, and she gets more and more frustrated throughout the novel because of this. ‘’None of them care how I gotta live’’.
When Curley’s wife is first introduced into the novel she is described as wearing lots of red. Rouged lips, red fingernails, red mules and red ostrich feathers. This symbolises how she could be a dangerous character throughout the novel, especially when George tells Slim about the girl from Weed. When he says how Lennie clutched on to the girl wearing a red dress, it automatically makes you think that something could potentially happen between Curley’s wife and Lennie.
Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife is not named. This shows her lack of identity on the ranch and how people view her as being property of her husband. In a way she retaliates to her
The novella ‘’of mice and men’’ was published in 1937 and written by John Steinbeck. It was set at the time of the great depression and was written to protest against the way workers were treated. It focuses mainly on the effects that this time had on people – vulnerability, sexism, racism and dreams. This essay explores the significance of Curley’s wife in the novel. How she is treated by the workers on the ranch and how she is discriminated for many different reasons, not necessary valid ones.
Curley’s wife is excluded for being female. A lot of the time she is found going around the ranch looking for attention from the workers. This is because her marriage with Curly does not satisfy her. She states to Lennie in the novel ‘’I don’t like Curly. He ain’t a nice fella’’. Carlson also states in the novel ‘’women should be at home where she belongs’’. The way she is excluded from a place physical work shows how women were portrayed in the 1930’s. Instead she is expected to be in the house all day cooking, cleaning and satisfying her husband, but you can see that this isn’t the lifestyle she opted for. She clearly feels insecure because of how lonely she is, and she gets more and more frustrated throughout the novel because of this. ‘’None of them care how I gotta live’’.
When Curley’s wife is first introduced into the novel she is described as wearing lots of red. Rouged lips, red fingernails, red mules and red ostrich feathers. This symbolises how she could be a dangerous character throughout the novel, especially when George tells Slim about the girl from Weed. When he says how Lennie clutched on to the girl wearing a red dress, it automatically makes you think that something could potentially happen between Curley’s wife and Lennie.
Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife is not named. This shows her lack of identity on the ranch and how people view her as being property of her husband. In a way she retaliates to her