Of Mice and Men - character study of Curly's wife.
Of Mice and Men The novel ' Of Mice and Men' is set in America and is about two travelling workers who have been chased off one ranch because Lennie, one of the men did not know how to behave himself. Lennie is large, heavy and ponderous and George is small quick, dark, sharp and restless. Another tragedy happens on the ranch like in weed because Lennie used his strength to kill Curley's wife. I can sympathise with Curley's wife although she was a flirt with the other men she was not expecting to be killed by Lennie. We first meet Curley's wife in chapter two. She is described as heavily made up and wears tarty red shoes. She poses her figure outlined in the doorway of the bunkhouse and is always aware that men are looking at her. This makes me think that she is just looking for attention from the men. George shows the reader that he does not like Curleys wife because George tells Lennie that she is jailbait and for Lennie to stay away from her. Lennie see's her as an attractive young lady but she is really just a threat to the men on the ranch. In chapter three there is a big fight involving Curly and Lennie. Curley has not liked Lennie since he was looking at Curleys wife so Curley just lost his rag and started punching Lennie but then Lennie just reached for Curley and just grabbed his hand and started squeezing his hand and his hand crumbled in Lennies hand, George told
Of Mice and Men: In a letter .John Steinbeck Wrote of Curleys wife: Shes a nice girl and not a floozy. Discuss and explain your own impression of Curleys wife.
Task ‘Of Mice and Men’: In a letter .John Steinbeck Wrote of Curley’s wife: ‘She’s a nice girl and not a floozy.’ Discuss and explain your own impression of Curley’s wife. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife as a character of many contradictions she is shown as both a nice girl and a floozy; lonely yet vindictive; Motherly but also seductive. In this essay I will try to discuss both of her sides. Throughout the novel Curley’s wife acts and dresses as a floozy; in the very beginning when we first see her she is dressed up nice and has her nails painted red which in those days was a sign of danger, she dresses in very good quality clothes and takes care of herself much more then she should as she is in a ranch full of men and has chores as all the women those days had. She spends too much time on her appearance, in the novel it says she has rouge lips, hair in little sausages, and not only is she dressed very nice, she also acts very seductive by showing off her womanly parts ‘she put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so her body was thrown forward’. She leans against the door frame teasing the men, she knows she will get lots of attention because she is a young pretty girl and the men are always in the ranch and she is the only girl there. She also talks very flirtatiously with the men as she says
Comparison of Curleys wife from "Of Mice and Men" by Steinbeck, and Sophie from Hardy's "The Sons Veto".
Comparison of Curleys wife from "Of Mice and Men" by Steinbeck, and Sophie from Hardy's "The Sons Veto" The Sons' Veto by Thomas Hardy is a pre 20th century short story set in rural Wessex in England. It tracks the life of a young servant girl named Sophie, who despite the enormous social void, marries a reverend and becomes a lady, and her struggle to settle into her new found social status. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck takes place in the early 1930's on a ranch in California. The focus of the story is on two characters, Lennie and George, however Curley's wife is an important character who has a vital role in the fatal ending of the plot. Both Sophie and Curley's wife are undoubtedly pretty in their own way, and both spend a lot of time on their appearance to compensate for what they feel they lack. For Curley's wife this is her personality, "Her face was made up and the sausage curls were all in place." And in Sophie's case her intelligence and lack of education "wasted hours braiding her beautiful hair" Dialogue is important in both the stories, and the sound of a character's voice can portray a lot about their personality. For instance the voice of Curley's wife "had a brittle nasal quality" this reflects her personality because you imagine it to be quite a harsh unpleasant sound, as she is portrayed as a mean woman. The two women have both married for reasons
Of Mice And Men. What does this section reveal about Curleys wife?
What does this section reveal about Curley’s wife? In Steinbeck’s description of Curley’s wife, he talks a lot about how well dressed she is and how she behaves so flirtatious. This means that she is the complete opposite to George. If she can afford ostrich feathers and all the luxuries of her clothing then she must have a lot of money or just spends it all on this. Steinbeck uses phrases such as “she bridled a little” to describe her actions. This is another comparison to animals that he uses to animalise people and in more than one case, women. By the way that Curley’s wife speaks and behaves we can tell she isn’t really the cleverest of all people. This means she wouldn’t work and instead get her money from inheritance of Curley himself. The colour red portrays passion and danger which foreshadows her later role in the book. Steinbeck suggests to the reader that Curley’s wife is “jailbait”. Curley’s wife obviously likes to take care in her appearance because in Steinbeck’s description of her, he says she is “heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters” this suggests to the reader that she is trying to get attention or is acting as a “tart”. She has no reason to dress up this extravagantly however as she is already married and there are no other women on the ranch, meaning she therefore she has no
Assess how Steinbeck presents the character of Curleys wife throughout "Of Mice and Men".
Asses how Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife throughout Of Mice and Men. In 1937, John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men a novella about friendship during the Great Depression. The novella offers a unique and vivid insight into the lives of all social groups during the horrific collapse of the American economy. We’re given a comprehensive insight into the life of woman; a minority group in the American society. During the novella we only meet two women, Curley’s wife is one of them, a very naïve young girl. In the novella, Steinbeck uses status to make us the reader feel compassionate towards Curley’s wife and the minority group of women. Curley’s wife has limited status and to some extent freedom on the ranch because she is a woman, a social minority. “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody, I get awful lonely” Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife’s loneliness to make us the reader feel compassionate towards her as no one wants to participate in conversation with her. Candy regards her as “Jailbait” indicating she is a young female seeking to get men into trouble. Jailbait is slang for a minor who is younger than the legal age of consent for sexual activity, with the implication that an older person might find him or her sexually attractive. “ I never get to talk to anyone” on the ranch there is a strong prejudice towards
Explore the way Curleys wife is presented and developed in Of Mice and Men
Explore the way Curley’s wife is presented and developed in ‘Of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck, in his novella ‘Of Mice and Men’, deliberately presents Curley’s wife as a character with no appellation, this pushes away the relationship between her and the reader. The fact that she has no appellation indicates to us that she is a generalised woman; a typecast of women in the 1930’s America, in which women were expected to stay at home to fulfil their housewife ‘duties’. Her appellation also indicates to us that she is the property of Curley, this dehumanizes her, she is thought of as an object. Steinbeck first presents Curley’s wife as a flirtatious ‘tart’, and then develops her as a dangerous, vulnerable, and fragile character. Steinbeck ensures that the reader feels unsympathetic towards her in the inception, and throughout the novella, and then allows the reader to feel slightly sympathetic just afore her death, as we find out she is just a lonely woman full of dreams that are shattered. This is deliberately done once it is too late, her death is inevitable. This means that the audience’s sympathy will always lie with Lennie, not Curley’s wife. In chapter 2, Candy introduces George and Lennie to the ranch, after Curley has his moment with George and Lennie, Candy states “wait’ll you see Curley’s wife…She got the eye”, immediately
Of Mice and Men Letter from Curleys Wife
The Tyler Ranch Near Soledad California 4th August, 1932 Dear Mom, I guess I haven’t been much of a daughter these last months, after I ran out like I did and didn’t call or write. I left under a cloud and I’m sorry for that. I was mad and I needed to get away. Me and you’ll never see eye to eye about that producer and the letter he said he’d send. I guess you’ll believe what you’re going to believe and I’ll believe in myself. This may come as a shock but I got married. No, not to the producer, but to a farmer! I was going to work my way to Hollywood and then try to get into the movies but I met Curley in Soledad and, after a real quick romance, we got married two months ago. I’m living on the ranch now and, truth be told, I don’t think I can be here much longer. I made a mistake in marrying Curley. I needed a way out of living with you and the only way I could do that was to marry someone, to be respectable. Curley was following me around like a pup for weeks and I liked the attention he gave me; made me feel pretty; special. I could see the way it tore him up to see me talking with other guys, even though we weren’t together. I thought it was kind of sweet. He seemed to be so in love with me. He promised he’d give me everything: clothes, money, jewels. Even said he’d come with me to Hollywood. It was the answer to all my dreams. So, after a
Of Mice and Men. Curleys wife is characterized to portray the sexist attitude of the society towards women,
Of Mice and Men Essay Introduction By: Anirudh Prabhakar Women’s role in society is perceived to be the same as men’s – equals; but men are still considered the superior of the two genders in many ways. If a man and a woman have the same qualifications and apply for the same job, the man will have a likelier chance of getting the job because of society’s view of women that women should stay at home and cook, clean, and take care of the babies. In my opinion, governments currently show the greatest improvements against sexism. For e.g. a woman is the leader of the biggest political group in India. The Great Depression lasted from 1929-1941. The Great Depression led to 1000’s of people losing their jobs and having to live a life without a place to call home as they had to move to find money and food. Life was tough for large numbers of the American population. The Dust Bowl also took place which meant that people starved due to the constant failing harvests at that time. Workers needed to travel to find jobs and were forced to move west to find manual labor jobs. Curley’s wife in the novel is portrayed as a flirtatious, unfaithful, woman. Curley’s wife is seen to have an “evil sexuality”, as in she wants to get people in trouble by being seductive. Curley’s wife is
The two characters that are important in the novel "of Mice of Men" are Curleys wife and Crooks.
Essay of Mice of men Choose two characters from the list below and say why you think they are important in the novel and how Steinbeck presents them. (Curley's wife and Crooks). The two characters that are important in the novel of Mice of Men are Curley's wife and Crooks. Curley's wife is a pivotal character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape from her own spiral of loneliness. Further, his failure to satisfy her, either emotionally or physically, leads her to seek solace with the other men, even those at the bottom of the social hierarchy of the ranch. Because of the circumstances of her own isolation, Curley's wife cannot escape from the sexual image that the other men have of her. She therefore cultivates this image as a means of being noticed, to talk to someone, and as a mean of defence. Crooks is the only black man in the novel and it is through attitudes towards his character that we gain insights into the positions of blacks in America at the time. Crooks do not live with the other hands in the bunkhouse; instead, he is isolated in his own room in the barn. He is openly referred to as 'nigger' which exemplifies the casual racism directed towards him by the others they do not set out to insult him deliberately, but the use of the term 'nigger' signals to us that black men like crooks were constantly degraded both verbally and
of mice and men curley's wife
To what extent is Curley's Wife a Victim? Of Mice and Men is a microism of 1930s American society. Following the 1929 Wall Street Crash,, America went into the Great Depression, which lead many Americans to realise that the American Dream was never really possible. We see Curley's Wife as a representation of women in America at that time. John Steinbeck's novella of Mice and Men set in rural California during the Great Depression centres the friendship of two itinerant ranch workers: George Milton and Lennie Small. On arrival at their new employment, George and Lennie meet Curley's Wife - the flirtatious; pretty; lonely young wife of the Boss' son, Curley. Many people would argue that yes Curley's Wife was a victim, for reasons being: she was forever lonely and unable to talk to other members of the ranch. "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." This proves Curley's Wife is an outsider like Crooks who is lonely-she just wants somebody to talk to. This picks up the theme of loneliness in the 1930s American society; Curley's Wife is not happy living in her father-in-law's ranch. She thinks she has missed opportunities by marrying Curley and living with his band of lonely men. She tries to get a bit of companionship by flirting with them and talking to them. Moreover, as she is the only woman on the ranch Steinbeck has portrayed as all
