Curley’s wife is one of the most complex characters in Steinbeck’s novella, “Of mice Mice and menMen.” Her very presence creates a huge amount of tension among the ranch hands with her flirtatious behavior leading to her inevitable death at the hand of Lennie. But under all of her makeup and dressing lies a poor, helpless, vulnerable girl, who want to be understood and loved.
She is first introduced by candy, who describes her from his perspective to George and Lennie of her being a ‘tart’ and giving people ‘the eye’. The fact that she is first introduced by being strongly prejudiced makes the reader already have a biased opinion of her even before we meet her in person. As a reader it’s very difficult to have positive feelings about her. Candy …show more content…
When the other ranch hands are playing a game and Lennie’s alone with her. An interesting part about Curley’s wife is as she slowly opens up to Lennie, despite his lack of interest. As the reader gains more knowledge about her personality we begin to feel empathy for her. The true pureness of her character is expressed only upon her death, where her face is described as being “sweet and young” and the “ache for attention was all gone for her face.” The use of the word ache implies that Curley’s wife’s need for attention was so strong that it hurt her, it indeed did hurt her personality. In accordance with the new atmosphere caused by Curley’s wife’s death and the realization that she was never a floozy, the “sun streaks were high on the walls”. This might be pathetic fallacy in that the levels of light and atmosphere reflect how she changes her mood and appearance.
Lastly despite all of her revelations, her death is cause by her never ending need for attention. When Lennie tells her that he adores soft things she offers her hair for him to touch. Even though he told her that many things he pet usually end up dead, which is foreshadowing her fate.
In conclusion Curley’s wife to me is a very complicated character who has lots of different sides to her, and was never in her intentions to be tarty and danger or seen as a loose woman, although at the beginning she was
She is first introduced by candy, who describes her from his perspective to George and Lennie of her being a ‘tart’ and giving people ‘the eye’. The fact that she is first introduced by being strongly prejudiced makes the reader already have a biased opinion of her even before we meet her in person. As a reader it’s very difficult to have positive feelings about her. Candy …show more content…
When the other ranch hands are playing a game and Lennie’s alone with her. An interesting part about Curley’s wife is as she slowly opens up to Lennie, despite his lack of interest. As the reader gains more knowledge about her personality we begin to feel empathy for her. The true pureness of her character is expressed only upon her death, where her face is described as being “sweet and young” and the “ache for attention was all gone for her face.” The use of the word ache implies that Curley’s wife’s need for attention was so strong that it hurt her, it indeed did hurt her personality. In accordance with the new atmosphere caused by Curley’s wife’s death and the realization that she was never a floozy, the “sun streaks were high on the walls”. This might be pathetic fallacy in that the levels of light and atmosphere reflect how she changes her mood and appearance.
Lastly despite all of her revelations, her death is cause by her never ending need for attention. When Lennie tells her that he adores soft things she offers her hair for him to touch. Even though he told her that many things he pet usually end up dead, which is foreshadowing her fate.
In conclusion Curley’s wife to me is a very complicated character who has lots of different sides to her, and was never in her intentions to be tarty and danger or seen as a loose woman, although at the beginning she was