Alix Kates Shulman once said, “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see; you think it’s just reality.” Sexism is something that, at one time, was taught, but now is an accepted part of society. The Great Depression brought out the worst aspects of sexism by complicating the roles of women and discrimination and hardships in the workplace and in society. These issues are all depicted through the character of Curley’s wife in the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck.
Mother, daughter, aunt, grandmother, sister- alll are different roles that women are expected to carry out during the Great Depression. Women are portrayed as mothers first in most every book, including Hapke's analysis of a group of novels set in Gastonia, North Carolinia (Walker). “Novelists were …show more content…
The only other women in the book are spoken of when Whit says, “Susy opens the door and then she yells over her shoulder, ‘Get your coats on, girls, here comes the sheriff’ ” (Steinbeck 52; ch. 3). The book only has one main woman character, and when it actually mentions another women, it is in a sexual manner. It is as if the men in the story, and in real life, do not know any other way to talk about women. The world has adapted unwritten rules, sexism is an unfortunate outcome of these rules. “Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. ‘I had enough, ‘ he said coldly, ‘you got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing around here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t I’m gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more’” (Steinbeck 80; ch. 4). All men, even the one who is considered the least important, talk to Curley’s wife; however, they please and expect her not to do anything about it. Men think that women do not have the willingness to fight or talk back. That is the way that society was, and is
Mother, daughter, aunt, grandmother, sister- alll are different roles that women are expected to carry out during the Great Depression. Women are portrayed as mothers first in most every book, including Hapke's analysis of a group of novels set in Gastonia, North Carolinia (Walker). “Novelists were …show more content…
The only other women in the book are spoken of when Whit says, “Susy opens the door and then she yells over her shoulder, ‘Get your coats on, girls, here comes the sheriff’ ” (Steinbeck 52; ch. 3). The book only has one main woman character, and when it actually mentions another women, it is in a sexual manner. It is as if the men in the story, and in real life, do not know any other way to talk about women. The world has adapted unwritten rules, sexism is an unfortunate outcome of these rules. “Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. ‘I had enough, ‘ he said coldly, ‘you got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing around here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t I’m gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more’” (Steinbeck 80; ch. 4). All men, even the one who is considered the least important, talk to Curley’s wife; however, they please and expect her not to do anything about it. Men think that women do not have the willingness to fight or talk back. That is the way that society was, and is