Good or Bad? Victim or Villain? Those are two things heavily contemplated during the reading of the novella Of Mice and Men after Curley’s wife is introduced to the readers. Though she is portrayed as a villain, if you look deeper into the text you see that she is truly the victim. This claim can be made firstly because, in the book it is revealed to the readers that she had been manipulated. Also, the men on the ranch would always dehumanize her because she was a woman. Lastly, it can be claimed that she is a victim because the ranch hands degraded her simply because she longed for companionship.
One of the reasons that a valid argument can be made in favor of Curley’s wife being a victim is that she was manipulated. She is influenced both …show more content…
In chapter 2, George and Candy are conversing when Candy states “[w]ait’ll you see Curley’s wife.” (Steinbeck 15) This is the first mention of her and she is never given an actual name after this. Furthermore, on page 17 George says “Jesus, what a tramp.. So that’s what Curley picks for a wife.” (Steinbeck 17) In this quote, George is referring to her as an item rather than a person. He says “that” instead of a pronoun such as “she” and uses “what” instead of a pronoun such as “who”. The definition of dehumanization is “the process depriving a person or group of people of positive human qualities”. A person having a name is a human quality and right, the men leaving Curley’s wife nameless is easily an act of …show more content…
This is the case because she dresses and approaches the workers in a seductive manner whether it is intentional or not. The books first description of her is as follows: “A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide- spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.” This is preposterous in a sense. She has her nails polished, hair done, and is wearing a dress; and, according to her, she only came out there to ask the laborers where her husband was. Likewise, she also threatens Crooks when he tried to kick her out of his room with good reasoning. This triggered uproaring anger in turn causing her to say, “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.” Curley’s wife was warning Crooks to stay in his place before she had him killed. Even though the evidence is compelling for both sides, she was in fact, a victim; however, these two occurrences could persuade a reader or multiple readers to think
One of the reasons that a valid argument can be made in favor of Curley’s wife being a victim is that she was manipulated. She is influenced both …show more content…
In chapter 2, George and Candy are conversing when Candy states “[w]ait’ll you see Curley’s wife.” (Steinbeck 15) This is the first mention of her and she is never given an actual name after this. Furthermore, on page 17 George says “Jesus, what a tramp.. So that’s what Curley picks for a wife.” (Steinbeck 17) In this quote, George is referring to her as an item rather than a person. He says “that” instead of a pronoun such as “she” and uses “what” instead of a pronoun such as “who”. The definition of dehumanization is “the process depriving a person or group of people of positive human qualities”. A person having a name is a human quality and right, the men leaving Curley’s wife nameless is easily an act of …show more content…
This is the case because she dresses and approaches the workers in a seductive manner whether it is intentional or not. The books first description of her is as follows: “A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide- spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.” This is preposterous in a sense. She has her nails polished, hair done, and is wearing a dress; and, according to her, she only came out there to ask the laborers where her husband was. Likewise, she also threatens Crooks when he tried to kick her out of his room with good reasoning. This triggered uproaring anger in turn causing her to say, “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.” Curley’s wife was warning Crooks to stay in his place before she had him killed. Even though the evidence is compelling for both sides, she was in fact, a victim; however, these two occurrences could persuade a reader or multiple readers to think