Curley's Wife Isolation Essay

In the novella of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck paints a depressing, but realistic portrait of America in the 1930s. He reveals what it was truly like to be a woman in that time period. Women back then were treated as nothing more than the property of men, they were possessions, they were objects. They were not their own person and the only identity that they had was that of their husband or their father. The role of a housewife was forced onto women, so much so that the only thing they could aspire to be was a stay at home mother. This was a catalyst for women to feel abandoned. Although all characters are alone in a way, Curley’s wife is the loneliest character in the novella. Curley’s wife is the most isolated because she is the only woman …show more content…
She is the only female on the ranch so she has nobody she can actually talk and relate to. It is very easy to imagine exactly how isolated she must feel. While having a conversation with Lennie, Curley’s wife says, “Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely… I get lonely… you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to nobody?” (86-87). Curley’s wife is explaining to Lennie that she really does not have anybody in her life other than Curley, but he is never there for her. When she tries to find somebody to talk to, Curley gets mad. She persists and keeps talking to Lennie and says, “Wha’s the matter with me? … Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (87). She is frustrated while she is saying this because everyone that she tries to talk to just casts her …show more content…
As mentioned before, Curley’s wife is constantly trying to find company. Every single time she walks into the room, all the guys become defensive, rude, and demand that she should leave. Curley’s wife says to the men, “If I catch any one man, and he's alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won't talk. Jus’ nothing but mad” (77). She is saying that when she finds a man who is by himself, he is not aggressive towards her. They can have a regular conversation and for a little bit, she has someone who she can talk to. Which is all she really wants. But as soon as the men are in a group, they all become mean and tell her to leave. She says that this is because they are all terrified that one of them is going to tell Curley that they were talking to his wife. Crooks then proceeds to say, “Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble” (77). The “trouble” that he is referring to is Curley. If he finds out that his wife was talking to them, he would want to fight them, or worse, get them fired. They all need their jobs and so as a result, everyone stays away from Curley’s