There is a very big difference between the way the other characters in the books think of Mally from Malachi’s Cove and Curley’s wife from Of Mice and Men. When Curley’s wife is first mentioned, Candy tells George how “she got the eye.” He later goes on to say, “I think Curley’s married a tart.” These are the first impressions the reader gets of Curley’s wife. When she finally arrives on scene and meets Lennie and George for the first time, “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off.” Steinbeck symbolises her personality again, this time using light and dark. He tries to indicate that Curley’s wife is bad news by using darkness. He also tries to show that there is no hope of a future for Lennie and George whilst she’s standing in the way of their light. Unlike Curley’s wife, Mally was a well-respected individual, but this was only to the elders. The people of her own age didn’t think much of Mally, so she hadn’t any friends. In Malachi’s Cove, Trollope refers to the term “vixen” to describe Mally’s personality. He repeats this word throughout the book to emphasise it so the reader can just capture the “wicked little vixen” personality she had. Using the image of a vixen, the author parallels her personality to the one of a spiteful and argumentative woman. By using metaphors and comparisons, Trollope paints a picture of the character’s personality to the reader.
As mentioned before, Mally isn’t liked by many of her peers, but she is well respected by the elders. This might have been because she was so good to her grandfather and took on all the responsibilities of work he used to do. To the older generation, they would have thought of Mally as a role model for others her own age because she was so helpful to her grandfather, but her peers didn’t class her as any sort of role model. Mally and Curley’s wife were both similar because they had no friends, but Curley’s wife's attitude was different to Mally’s in the fact that she tried to make new friends on the ranch, but she never succeeded. George tells Lennie to stay away from her the moment they first meet her and tries to explain to him, women like her were “rat traps.” I think all the men felt as though they shouldn’t speak to her because she was ‘Curley’s wife’. Nobody would want to mess with Curley because he was known to be quite violent, and he was the boss’s son. Mally on the other hand never tried to make any friends. Like the people around her confessed, “she worked day and night, and knew nothing of fatigue.” She seemed to be so occupied in all her responsibilities, which meant she had no time for socialising.
Even though both these books were set at a similar time, Mally was allowed to work but Curley’s wife was not. I think the main reason for Curley’s wife being unable to work on the ranch was, the men classed her as being in possession of Curley. For example, throughout the entire novel Steinbeck doesn’t give her a name, she’s simply ‘Curley’s wife’. George said, “such a ranch ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her.” This remark George came out with was not only sexist towards women, but he also meant it wasn’t a place for females like Curley’s wife. It seems he said this because to George, Curley’s wife was a “tramp” and “ a rat trap” because of the way she acted in a seductive manner when she was near men. George wasn’t the only man who felt this way, other men also kept their distance from Curley’s wife. For instance, when Curley’s wife went into Crooks’ barn where some of the other men were, Candy said to her, “ you got a husban. You got no call foolin’ aroun’ with other guys, causin’ trouble." Like George, Candy also knew that Curley’s wife was trouble because she shouldn’t go around talking to other men whilst her husband wasn’t there. The men on the ranch didn’t want to lose their job because Curley thought they were trying to steal his possession, his wife. Curley’s wife knew that the men on the ranch preferred to stay away from her, but if a man was alone, “I get along fine with him,” she said. She tells Lennie, Crooks and Candy, “ just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk.” She went on to say, “ever’ one of you’s scared the rest is goin’ to get something on you." That’s just what George and the other guys thought would happen if they were to talk to her.
Alternatively, Mally wasn’t described with any feminine attractions like Curley’s wife. The young men didn’t care about Mally because she didn’t make an effort to dress or care about the way she looked. Unlike Curley’s wife, Mally wasn’t married and she only lived with her grandfather. This meant that she wasn’t in possession of any other man, and so they could talk to her, but still Mally hadn’t any friends. As the reader is clearly able to recognise, Trollope seems to compare heavy responsibilities with more of a masculine tone trying to indicate Mally worked so hard. Traditionally it was a man's duty to do the hard work therefore, Mally is characterised with less feminine qualities. Curley’s wife was the total opposite of this; she never worked on the ranch and so Steinbeck has characterised her with the feminine attractions Mally doesn’t have.
It would have been lonely for both the characters because there were no women to socialise and talk with. Curley’s wife told Lennie, “I get lonely.” There was no doubt about it, it was a fact because she said it herself. Mally on the other hand didn’t express her loneliness. She doesn’t mention if she was lonely when she was younger neither if she had any ambitions. At the time the novel was written, she only lived with her grandfather. Mally would have felt lonely because she had no one of her own age to talk to, but she did have her grandfather to keep her company. I think the reason Mally was so kind to her grandfather and lived with him was because he was an old man with bad health and if she left him, he’d be unable to cope and would become lonely on his own. Living with her grandfather showed how thoughtful and unselfish Mally was. Unlike Mally, Curley’s wife mentions her past life a lot to Lennie. She tells Lennie, “I tell you I ain’t used to this livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” She expresses how lonely she is, and how marrying Curley has ruined her dreams.
Curley’s wife’s had the men on the ranch to talk to, but they kept their distance from her because she was Curley’s possession. When she was alone in the barn with Lennie, she told him how she felt about Curley, “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella,” she said. This was the first time she was telling anyone how she felt, probably because nobody else would stop and listen. I think that Curley’s wife is the loneliest character in Of Mice and Men, not even her own husband cares for her. She hasn’t been Curley’s wife that long and already hates life on the ranch. She’s also the only woman on the ranch. “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” she rhetorically questioned, for she already knew Curley had forbidden her from speaking to any other man. Unfortunately, loneliness ends the life of Curley’s wife when she’s alone in the barn with Lennie and tries to make a friend. Steinbeck doesn’t view her death as a tragedy, he says, “ the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.” He tries to show that Curley’s wife has actually gone to a better place and she is now in peace. Steinbeck cleverly used light and dark as part of his literary technique when Curley’s wife arrived on scene; when she dies he uses the same type of language, but instead of using darkness he describes her death as light. “The sun streaks were high on the wall by now, and the light was growing soft in the barn.” Again, Steinbeck tries to show the reader that Curley’s wife dying was a good thing because she would no longer be unhappy, and without her it seemed as though the other men had a hope for a brighter future.
Throughout the book, Curley’s wife has been playing the role of a character that is trouble and fails to care about anybody else, but the impression of her changes in chapter five when she’s talking to Lennie. For the first time when she’s speaking alone with someone, she seems to be more compassionate and caring. She tells him, “ don’t you worry about talkin’ to me” and it seemed as though she cared for Lennie. The reader is made aware of this different side to her when she was talking with Lennie, while the other characters in Of Mice and Men failed to realise how kind Curley’s wife could be because they never gave her a chance. Mally too was a compassionate women. All the people knew how caring and trustworthy she was to her grandfather. She cared for him dearly, and when the Camelford attorney took Mally’s money but couldn’t do anything for her, she was heart was broken. One big similarity between Mally and Curley’s wife was; even though they didn’t like the people around them (visa versa), they still had a loving heart inside. For instance, when Mally’s granddad thought Barty Gunliffe (the farmer’s son) had died, Mally never lost hope, and still tried to find help; “ had it been her brother, her lover, her father, she could not have clung to him with more of the energy despair.” Mally used to despised Barty before but yet she was trying to save his life.
The author’s use of various writing techniques to describe their main female characters illustrates the character’s difficult situations. Both Steinbeck and Trollope effectively describe their characters in such a way that in their everyday lives, Mally and Curley's wife led two very different lives. Curley’s wife living in the very traditional way of belonging to her husband and being a distraction to the men and Mally taking on a traditionally male role of taking on all the responsibilities. However, with a deeper look into both characters, I am able to see that both women share a sad and lonely life but even though they do, they can both be both really caring and compassionate. It seems as though both characters need a meaning to their lives because they are so lonely. This suggests to me, that there’s a greater similarity between the two characters than their outward appearances would suggest.
