Of Mice and Men
Of mice and men is a story based on two ranch men called Lennie and George that move around various
ranches looking for work in 1920s America. Lennie has learning disabilities which makes it hard for them to
find work there is also a Depression on making it twice as hard to find jobs.
Steinbeck included the character of Curley’s wife in the book to show what the prejudice was like in the
1920’s and that women were treated like possessions. “Curley’s wife” wasn’t given a name in the book this
shows that she wasn’t important and she belonged to Curley.
We first hear about Curley’s wife from what people say about her. Firstly Candy tells George that Curley’s
wife is a bit of a flirt this makes George feel a bit wary because he’s very protective of Lennie and he
doesn’t want him to get into trouble. In addition, Candy says “Well – I think Curley’s married a tart.” The
word “tart” would suggest that she likes men’s attention and is an attention seeker which would make the
reader feel that she would be trouble to be around. By doing this, Steinbeck prejudices the reader against
her before we even meet her.
Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to determine our impressions of Curley’s Wife which we are given to us by
Candy. As she entered the room “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut of”. The sunshine was
cut of implies to the reader that something bad or dark is going to happen. In addition Steinbeck’s
description of her supports what Candy says because, “She’s wearing red mules, on the insteps of which
were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers”. The colour red implies danger and provocation which makes
the men feel intimidated when they see her because they can see that she might be trouble.
Curley’s wife’s body language is inviting and provocative, whilst stood in the doorway, “she put her hands
back so that her body was thrown forward”, to attract attention. This makes her body more inviting which
grabs Lennie’s attention almost instantly. This further reinforces that Curley’s Wife is going to be trouble
because of the reaction that she gets of Lennie; but on the over hand George could see straight through
her. “She’s jailbait all set on the trigger”.
Steinbeck uses the word jailbait to represent something bad is going to happen and when you’re in there
no escape unless you’re released this is what George sees Curley’s wife doing. This makes the reader still
feel that she’s trouble and they still dislike her however I think George is deliberately trying to scare Lennie
so that he will stay away from her.
When Curley’s wife goes into the ranch house she treats the men with contempt as she sees herself higher
than them on the ranch. “They left all the weak ones here.” She uses her status on the ranch to try and
make them speak to her but you start to feel a bit sorry for her as she knows that her husband as gone to
a cat house. I think that she uses the saying “weak ones” because she feels she that she too is one of the
weaker ones because she knows that she has no power over Curley. However we start to feel sorry for her
when she reveals that she doesn’t like Curley “sure I got a husband you all seen him. Swell guy ain’t he?”
This rhetorical question shows that she’s being sarcastic and the reader starts to think that Curley doesn’t
show her any attention. The reader starts to see the real side of her; she’s looking for some attention,
because she can’t get any for Curley. At this point Steinbeck is starting to make the reader feel
sympathetic towards her.
Unfortunately the men don’t feel sympathetic towards her and refer to her as a kid because Candy tells her
to “run along and go roll your hoop” by saying this Candy is suggesting that she a little girl that noes
nothing this show that Candy is not bothered about her so called status on the ranch and has no respect
for her. I think that Steinbeck includes this to show how little power women had at this time even though
she the bosses’ son’s wife! Steinbeck reinforces this idea as Crooks stand up to her and tells her to get out
of his room. Steinbeck shows at this point how nasty Curley’s wife is when she retains him by saying
“listen, nigger you know what I can do to you if u open your trap?” again by using a rhetorical question
implies that he knows he answer. The reason that Curley’s wife has no power because she’s female, so
much lower on the hierarchy that the White men; she has no right and is treated like Crooks.
I think the reason that Curley’s wife opens up to Lennie and tells him everything is because she knows that
Lennie is like a child. He doesn’t fully understand what she’s saying and he forgets most thing that he’s
told. Steinbeck uses this conversation to reveal Curley’s wife’s reasons for her unhappiness. “You can talk
people but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he get mad.” This implies that Curley can treat her badly
when he gets mad which he gets from his dad because when he get mad he treats the stable buck (Crooks)
badly too. I think she wants someone to treat her right and with a bit of respect; Curley wife is trapped
because she’s married him to follow her dreams of being a movie star but all that when out the window
when she married Curley as he’s so controlling and men thought women should stay at home in those
days. Steinbeck uses this conversation to foreshadow that something bad is about to happen. “Now the
light was lifting as the sun went down…” by using the phrase the sun went down suggests that is the end of
her dreams!
Steinbeck tries to get the impression across that in 1930 the amount of prejudice towards women,
Steinbeck shows this by giving Curley’s wife then name off Curley’s wife showing that women are treated
like persecutions not as their own persons!
When Curley’s wife is dead Steinbeck describes her as ‘’pretty’’ and ‘’simple’’. So therefore Steinbeck
completely contradicts himself by changing what he said at the beginning of the book, this leaves us feeling
sorry and up set for her because of the characteristics that was described as bad at the start, ‘’reddened
lips’’ now make her look ‘’sweet and young’’.
Steinbeck changes the reader’s point of view by using powerful imagery. At the start she is described as a
‘’tramp’’, ‘’tart’’ and ‘’jail bait’’. This make us feel like she’s trouble and no good can come out of her. As
the book develops the reason start to come out about why she has this tarty side to her. We see that she is
abused by Curley and lost her dream of making it big in the movies. On their other hand Steinbeck reveals
why she has this front to her when she opens up to Lennie and tells him how everyone treats her, this
makes the reader fully supervise with her and start feel sorry for when she dies because there was a nice
side to her but no one there for her to speak to and bring the good out of her until the very end when it’s
to later.