Unemployment percentages reached all-time highs during the Great Depression, leaving 25% of Americans searching for employment. People from all over America competed for work leading individuals to see each other as rivals, resulting in extreme isolation and loneliness among society. While the Depression caused most people become callous and insensitive to others, several people still longed for companionship. In the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck characterizes Curley’s wife as a tease to develop the theme of the unavoidability of loneliness and isolation during the Great Depression; likewise, the song “Somebody to Love” by the rock band Queen also expresses the yearning for companionship during the 1930’s.
Throughout the novel, Curley's …show more content…
She seeks empathy from Lennie when she says, “...Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I could made somethin; of myself” (88). Expected to stay in the house and follow the common stereotypes during this time period, Curley’s wife feels deprived of attention. Curley disregards her need for love and instead sees her as an object he can push around. Her need for attention causes extreme consequences, coincidentally leading to her own death: “... the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young” (93). She dies knowing that somebody finally listened to her and gave her the attention she seeked for so long. Her “sweet and young” face shows how loneliness took over her life, but under all of the “discontent” and “ache for attention” was a young lady who had been molded into an abandoned object of …show more content…
Lines 19-22 illustrates the distress of a person longing for love despite disencouraging comments such as, “they say I’m goin’ crazy, they say I got a lot of water in my brain, I got no common sense, I got nobody left to believe in.” This relates to the men’s view of Curley’s wife and how “she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one” (12). Flaunting herself to the men only brings her further from companionship because the men fear of getting canned or beat up by Curley. The lyrics not only accurately represent the impression the men have of her, but also her unrealistic dream of becoming a movie star. The dream is mirrored in the lyrics, “I ain’t gonna face no defeat, I just gotta get out of this prison cell. One day I’m gonna be free, Lord!” (31-33). The prison cell represents both the ranch and the loneliness that encloses her. She confides in Lennie about how she married Curley to escape her unsupportive parents which led to her own desolation: “I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself… So I married Curley” (88). Curley’s wife thought marrying Curley would result in freedom and love, but to her own devastation, it only resulted in loneliness and
Throughout the novel, Curley's …show more content…
She seeks empathy from Lennie when she says, “...Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I could made somethin; of myself” (88). Expected to stay in the house and follow the common stereotypes during this time period, Curley’s wife feels deprived of attention. Curley disregards her need for love and instead sees her as an object he can push around. Her need for attention causes extreme consequences, coincidentally leading to her own death: “... the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young” (93). She dies knowing that somebody finally listened to her and gave her the attention she seeked for so long. Her “sweet and young” face shows how loneliness took over her life, but under all of the “discontent” and “ache for attention” was a young lady who had been molded into an abandoned object of …show more content…
Lines 19-22 illustrates the distress of a person longing for love despite disencouraging comments such as, “they say I’m goin’ crazy, they say I got a lot of water in my brain, I got no common sense, I got nobody left to believe in.” This relates to the men’s view of Curley’s wife and how “she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one” (12). Flaunting herself to the men only brings her further from companionship because the men fear of getting canned or beat up by Curley. The lyrics not only accurately represent the impression the men have of her, but also her unrealistic dream of becoming a movie star. The dream is mirrored in the lyrics, “I ain’t gonna face no defeat, I just gotta get out of this prison cell. One day I’m gonna be free, Lord!” (31-33). The prison cell represents both the ranch and the loneliness that encloses her. She confides in Lennie about how she married Curley to escape her unsupportive parents which led to her own desolation: “I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself… So I married Curley” (88). Curley’s wife thought marrying Curley would result in freedom and love, but to her own devastation, it only resulted in loneliness and