Curley's Wife Characterization

Improved Essays
Emma Brooks
Mr. Neuber
Pre-AP English 2
October 9, 2014
Of Mice and Men Character Analysis
Things in life often don’t go as planned. Especially when times are hard and people start to lose hope for their future. Hope is a feeling that Curley’s Wife in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, never loses sight of. Set back during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl George and Lennie, two migrant workers who travel together, travel to a ranch in Soledad. On this ranch they learn about many dreams of the other people who live and work on the ranch. George warns Lennie to not talk to Curley’s Wife because she’s nothing but trouble. Despite his attempts to ignore her, Lennie encounters Curley’s Wife multiple times throughout the novel and
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We know their actions and words, but their feelings and thoughts are left for us to infer. Curley’s wife plays as one antagonist in the novel. She causes problems for George and Lennie throughout the novel. Because she’s so lonely, she constantly is looking for a reason to leave her house and talk to someone. This causes problems because if Curley sees her talking to any other men on the ranch he assumes the worst. George warns Lennie in the beginning to steer clear of her at all costs because he knows nothing good will come out of Lennie talking to her. He tells him, “Listen to me, you crazy bastard, don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.” (32) Curley’s Wife struggles with both internal and external conflicts throughout the novel. The main internal conflict she constantly thinks about is whether or not to leave the house to find company, or to listen to Curley and stay put. An external conflict she deals with is one with Lennie in the barn. She ends up having to physically struggle under Lennie’s grip. Every time Curley’s Wife comes into the novel she brings trouble with her, her main role in the novel Of Mice and Men is to be a source of conflict for the …show more content…
Her thoughts and dreams never cease throughout the story to one day become rich and famous. Her immature ways of thinking never change throughout the novel, so her mindset and ideas are static. She believes one day it is still possible for her to accomplish her dream. While talking to Lennie in the barn she says, “I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself. Maybe I will yet.” (88) Despite her current situation she never loses hope that one day she could

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