In the article titled “White man in the photo is the ‘third hero’ that night in 1968” written by Jing Chen, Australian Olympian Peter Norman had stood amongst two …show more content…
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