The centre of his aggression may come down to how he feels about his height, he is not a very big man and he may be jealous towards Lennie because he is a lot bigger than him. He may also be trying to prove that although he’s short he’s a tough cookie.
Helen Stoner has the same sort of relationship with her stepfather Dr Roylott, he like Curley is portrayed by the author as a potentially violent man. There is one particular example of his violence and that is that when we are told that he has killed a butler by beating his butler to death. To add an even more of a bad guy label to him, is said to have connections strong enough in India to be able to obtain dangerous animals such as snakes, cheetahs and baboons. They are all roaming around his estate.
Both women have contexts, which contribute towards their isolation and treatment. Curley’s wife lives on a ranch that is inhabited by men that work on it. These men all live in a bunkhouse on the ranch together. Every Saturday they go to the nearest town and visit a whorehouse. They do this because they have no relationships with women on their ranch. This is because there are no women on their ranch, except Curley’s wife. Due to their regular stopovers at the whorehouse they seem to treat every woman like a prostitute. A good example of this is when George says, “I bet she’d clear out for twenty bucks” to Lennie about Curley’s wife. This is simply the attitude all the men on the ranch have towards women. Mainly because the only women they see and talk to are from the whorehouse. Their attitudes towards Curley’s wife are exactly the same. Every man is like this towards her except Lennie; because of his childlike mind he doesn’t see what’s wrong with her. He shows the same attitude towards Crooks when he asks, “Why ain’t you wanted” he has no idea about racism and sees Crooks as another one of the guys. All the other men see Curley’s wife as an object and not a person. The fact that we are never told Curley’s wife’s name is a one way of showing she’s seen as an object. Apart from when she has Lennie to talk to by herself, she never once in the book has a personal conversation with anyone. This may lead to why the men don’t see her as a person, because she hasn’t had the chance to get to know anyone and form a friendly relationship. Without knowing what type of person she is by talking to her, the men will never know whether she is a slut or not. During her period on the ranchmen will come and go, because they may get fired from their job at any time. Taking that into consideration she doesn’t have the chance to get to know people long enough to be able to talk privately with them. Curley doesn’t allow her to leave the house, while she was talking to Slim and asking him if he’s seen Curley he says “I seen him going in your house” when she realises he is home she says “bye boys” and hurries off. This is because she knows that Curley doesn’t like her out of the house and talking to other men. When she does get the chance to talk to Lennie she tells him how she feels about people on the ranch and Curley.
Helen Stoner also has an isolation and treatment problem as well. She lived in an old family estate with her stepfather Dr Roylott. She was not happy with staying with her stepfather but she had no choice other than to stay with him. This was because all her expenses are paid by the money her mother has left her, which Dr Roylott is in control of. There is no indication in the story that she has any friends, this may be because her stepfather doesn’t allow it. Another reason may be that she hasn’t been able to meet anyone because she isn’t allowed out of her estate without permission. Even if she were allowed out to socialise then she wouldn’t be interested in the normal people who are in a lower class then her. She would be expected to be with someone who is at least as well recognised as her name is. The immediate option that comes to mind would be someone involved in the military simple because other members of her family has been involved with military people. Both her father and twin sister’s fiancé both had a military history ‘Major-General Stoner’ was her father and ‘Major of Marines’ was the Title of her sisters fiancé. Due to her family being in a social circle with these sorts of people then she is most likely to meet a friend of the family who is as well involved with the military. When she realises that she has been followed when she goes to visit Holmes she is said to have “Frightened eyes“ because she isn’t allowed out of the house. She has to stay in the house everyday, she cannot walk around her gardens because of the dangerous animals which are owned by her stepfather are carelessly roaming around the gardens all day. During her time it was custom to be proud of your name and heritage. Therefore she could not run away from her home, because then she would be seen as a disgrace to her family and labelled ‘the Stoner that ran away’. Even if she were to run away she wouldn’t last long, because she has no money of her own.
Interesting language is used to present both women. Curley’s wife as explained above is seen to the men as an object and not a person, because of these she is labelled by nasty words when the men are talking between each other. George says to Lennie “Jesus, what a tramp” he says this directly after she hurries off back to her house. I am not quite sure in what context George was using this, but it may be how she is out of the house behind Curley’s back and talking to the guys. All of a sudden George has an outburst about Curley’s wife and calls her a ‘bitch’, ‘poison’ and ‘jailbait’. He says these all to Lennie because he feels she is a threat towards them because if they put a foot wrong they will get sacked. She is a threat because if they flirt with her she will inform Curley and he will tell his dad who will subsequently fire them. She is then called ‘rattrap’ by George, “she’s a rattrap” he says this to Lennie when he tries to explain why he should stay away from her. He is saying this in the context to Lennie that she’s some sort of trap that he mustn’t get caught in. George then says to Lennie “ You let Curley take the rap” meaning that he’d rather Curley got caught in her trap. Another piece of interesting language used is when Curley’s wife appears in the doorway in front of the men. This is a very precise d3escription of Curley’s wife, however I feel that this verging on the lines on pornography this is, because how her description is so alike to one of a child.
Helen Stoner’s character doesn’t have too much language used to present her, apart from when she is described by the author when she has first arrived at Holmes’ office. She was said to have “her face all drawn and grey” reading this part of the description immediately brings to mind the saying ‘as if she has just seen a ghost’ and that she looks very old. Then he continues “…with restless, frightened eyes” this line speaks for itself; she obviously is petrified and hasn’t had enough sleep due to this. The line following the one I have just explained is very interesting “…like those of a hunted animal”. I find this, because as we later find out in the story that she was followed by her someone who works for her stepfather, which is very similar to an animal being hunted. This in my opinion is also interesting because although her appearance makes it seem as she is aware of herself being followed, even though she really has know idea. Secondly when she is aware that she has been followed and her stepfather knows that she has been to see a detective. Holmes informs her “we have had the pleasure of making the Doctors acquaintance”. There is then a quick description of her response to what Holmes has just told her, ‘Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened’ she clearly has realised by now that Dr Roylott is aware of her visit to Sherlock Holmes.
There are many effects on the reader of the writers’ control of narrative and structure. Throughout the story ‘Of mice and men’ the audience only see Curley’s wife through the eyes off the workers on the ranch. This may be a disadvantage to her character because the audience will never know her when she is pleasant and a good person. The only time when she is able to let go of her feelings is when she is talking to Lennie “Ain’t I got the right to talk to nobody?” this is because he doesn’t take much notice of what she has to say, and it is completely irrelevant to his own life. So she can just get it all out of her system and feel like someone is listening to her for once. Another effect on the reader of the writers’ control of narrative and structure Is when John Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife when she is laying dead in the hay. During this description it is as if he has frozen time for a while. Its as if he has pulled it apart and created a moment outside time. As I said before we only see Curley’s wife through the eyes of the men but this is the one time in the story that she is pictured in her purist form. She seems in this description to be so sweet and innocent girl who was badly treated by men.
Conan Doyle’s technique of narrative theatre is completely different. The main point of the story is that the killer is a highly venomous snake from India. The only reason this snake is a reality is because earlier in the story it says “He has a passion for Indian animals. Sent over to him by his correspondent.” This then can justify the fact that he has such a dangerous snake in England.
My overall impression is that I feel that both women are very restricted to doing things they please because of the people they are surrounded by. In my opinion I feel that Curley’s wife has more of a disadvantage, because she would have no where to go apart from perhaps a whore house but then she would still be visited by the same men. She is living through the great depression so it would be even harder for her to get a job and start a new life. Helen Stoner without doubt has more opportunities. She sounds like a well educated women and therefore can easily find a sufficient paying job. Even if she wasn’t to leave she could have found herself a husband and get the money from her stepfather. After he had died she would be a lot better off because she should then of had all the money to herself.
