Analysis Of Curley's Wife

Discuss how Steinbeck encourages his readers to view Curley’s wife as both a good and a bad character.
The novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ was set in the 1930s, a time of great struggle poverty and isolation for the vast majority of people living in America. As a result of the Wall Street Crash, “more than 15 million Americans” were rendered unemployed and penniless. Any jobs that were available were laborious and about as far from glamorous as you could get. Of Mice and Men cleverly combines themes of racism, sexism and relationships during this time. The novella is set on a ranch in America, full of cold, rugged and lonely men and a nameless girl who belonged anywhere but on the ranch. She is known only as Curley’s wife throughout the novella, …show more content…
As she walked into the barn house “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off” showing Curley’s wife as a silhouette. Steinbeck uses this to pose as symbolism and foreshadowing to the later events in the book. In suggesting that Curley’s wife blocks out the light, Steinbeck may be hinting towards the darkness of her life and, again, at how she doesn’t belong. Additionally, this can be interpreted as Curley’s wife not being a whole ‘person’ in the sense that she is only a shadow and therefore wouldn’t exist without the sun. The sun makes her everything, or the sun makes her nothing – much like Curley. What 's more, throughout the whole novella, she is only known as “Curley’s wife”, demonstrating that without Curley, she wouldn’t have a purpose and, in retrospect, would cease to exist. This wouldn’t have been the only case of male superiority in America- it happened everywhere. Male supremacy lingered even there after the revolutionary decade of the 1920 's it “affected society 's growth and functionality”. Women were expected to remain virgins and, almost forced, to marry as early as possible to try and escape the grasp of poverty as, after all, “Unemployment, Hunger, and Homelessness were considered "man problems". It was deemed improper to be a homeless woman.” So, like many other girls, Curley’s wife settled for a life that compromised their …show more content…
She understood that the men of the ranch had “’left the weak ones’”, she knew that, aside from her, the only two considered of her status or lower was a “nigger” and a “dum dum”. In 1930s America, racism was a very common social convention. Slavery was still a factor of normal life and whites were believed to be the superior race. It is never mentioned in the novella that Lennie has a disability, however it is clear that he is not fully able minded. In the 1930 's, the mentally disabled were seen as inferior to regular people by society. This highlights just how little respect and status Curley’s wife has; she is left alone with the two people that society ridicules, even though she is young and able bodied, whilst her husband spends the evening in a whorehouse. Steinbeck begins to show the reader why Curley’s wife acts in a way that could be seen as sexual, solely in the way she is treated. Also, by calling herself, Crooks and Lennie “weak”, it holds a comparison to Slim’s pups at the beginning of the novella. Slim’s dog “slang her pups”, however she gave birth to more than she could feed, therefore he “drowned four of ‘em right off.” Not only does this show how the society in which these people live is cruel and unsentimental, it is mirrored in Lennie, Crooks and Curley’s wife. They are the weak ones. If one of them were to die, it would be one less mouth