Preview

Examples Of Sympathy For Curley's Wife In Of Mice And Men

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
173 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Sympathy For Curley's Wife In Of Mice And Men
In Steinbecks novella Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife deserves the readers sympathy because she comes off as a tart to most guys. Little do they know, the reason hse is with Curley is not for just the love. When she married him she had no idea what she was getting into. “[He] says I could go with that show. But my ol’lady wouldn’t let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen.” To be able to be in shows and do what she wanted, she would have to marry and move out (Steinbeck 96). Since she married someone she thought was right for her, she is stuck in a bad relationship. “I get lonely,’ [she] said ‘Yoy can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.” She never has the abilty to be free because Curley thinks she is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the Book Of Mice And Men, “she's a jailbate set on a trigger”from George…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Initially the character of Curley’s Wife is described to the readers by the men on the ranch that George and Lennie last work on, in their conversations with each other, before Curley’s Wife’s character is fully introduced with speech and description of physical appearance. Expressions, such as the idiom “she got the eye”, are used to describe her, implying that she is promiscuous and flirtatious, something that is later emphasised by her being referred to by the derogatory term of “tart£, implying that she is suggestive and perhaps even similar to a prostitute in terms of the way she portrays herself. The word “tart” could also suggest that she presents herself flamboyantly in front of the men at the ranch, illustrating her desperation for attention. The fact that she is married and is still promiscuous and portrays herself flamboyantly in front of other men could suggest that she is unfaithful and immoral, or alternatively that her sexual needs are not fulfilled by her husband, providing a reasonable explanation to why Curley wears a glove “fulla vasaline”, something that is seen as “dirty” by George. She is described to be “heavily made up” which could add to her being unfaithful and untrue as she almost is disguised and covered up by cosmetics, covering her real natural appearance. Steinbeck purposefully conveys Curley’s Wife negatively through the ranch men in order to create an initial pessimistic and hateful approach toward her character by the readers.…

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever experienced the painful grip of loneliness while searching for companionship? Or had your heart set on a dream that you knew was out of your reach? These realistic examples describe the battle of human nature within the characters Of Mice and Men. In fact, the characters Of Mice and Men undergo these emotions on an unexpected journey. As the journey unfolds into a quest, the characters gain unexpected personal growth.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men is an example of why we need to be our brother’s keeper.…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there are two characters that rarely get to speak to the others on the farm they live on. Crooks, a disabled black stable buck, and Curley’s wife, the wife of the farm owner’s son. Both characters seem equally lonely on the farm, but when you look deeper you can see that Curley’s wife is more lonesome than Crooks. Curley’s wife is always looking for Curley, as he is the only person she is supposed to talk to.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The other men call her and treat her like a tart. She is often demeaned and made to feel oppressed. One way in which I believe she is oppressed is by the way she’s not given a name, just referred to as Curley’s Wife, Curley’s property. “I ain’t used to living like this”, this quotation suggests that she is sick of being made to stay at home all day and just clean, cook and do all the chores around the house. I believe that Curley’s wife also feels demeaned by the way in which people call her names, like tart. “Married two weeks and got the eye”, this is an example of Candy judging her, even though he does not know the slightest thing about her. “They’s gonna be a bad mess about her”, this is an example of when George is speculating about what she is capable of, even though he has barely even met her by this stage.…

    • 555 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Section 5- with Lennie

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Steinbeck forces the reader to alter their perception on Curley’s wife throughout this chapter. She starts to act sincere and we begin to feel that we have finally met the real Curley’s wife. She is no longer represented as a sexual figure and starts to show her emotions. It makes us feel like she wants to love and to be loved.…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Of mice and men’ is set during the Great Depression. When a Dust Bowl in the 1930s, which vastly damaged the economics and agriculture in the US. Hundreds and thousands of farmers lost their jobs and became migrant workers in California. Finding a job in the ranches was really difficult, because the society was cruel to those who are useless. In this book, there are a few minor characters that reflected some important social injustices in the 1930s.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to represent how many women in the 1930s were classed below men, and how this prejudice allowed their lives to be defined by the men around them. In this passage, Steinbeck has manipulated Curley’s wife’s appearance in order to reinforce our pre judged feelings towards her, based on gossip and rumours told by Candy.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (77). Finally, when Curley’s wife enters the barn near the end of the book she makes Lennie listen to her about her past. How she was going to become an actor but her mom wouldn't let her because she was only fifteen.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley's Wife Analysis

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Married to Curley, she lives on a ranch with only men with whom to talk. However the men degrade and insult her, and Curley makes sure no one thinks of talking to his wife on fear of losing their jobs. Curley is very possessive of his wife, and wants the men on the ranch to know that he has something valuable that they are not allowed to have. Her gender secludes her on the ranch, and her attempts to get the other men to talk to her only pushes them further away. Her extravagant appearance illustrates her desperate need for attention. “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 anybody?” (Steinbeck 87). She seeks out the men on the ranch for company, however this is seen as a promiscuous act in their eyes. She settled for Curley after being unable to pursue her own dreams, but she now lives on a ranch with men who avoid her because they are too afraid of her…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley's wife is one of the most significant characters in John Steinbeck's novel "Of mice and men," although we never learn her name. We learn about her through her own words and actions and also through other characters' descriptions and opinions of her. Before Curley's wife makes her first appearance, she is introduced to us through Candy's opinion of her. He tells George that, although she has only been married to Curley for two weeks, she has already "got the eye." He also describes he as "a tart" that has been flirting with both Slim and Carlson. Curley's wife's first appearance is dramatic. She suddenly appears in the open doorway, cutting off the bright sunlight, as if she has brought the darkness with her. The reader is already influenced by Candy's description of her so that when Steinbeck describes her as having "full rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up" we see this as confirmation of her being "a tart." Equally, it could simply mean that she takes pride in her appearance and tries to get noticed. However, she does flaunt herself " she smiled archly and twisted her body" and is clearly aware that Lennie is fascinated with her. George's first impression of Curley's wife is that she is "a tramp" and the worst "piece of jail-bait" he has ever seen. Later in the novel, the young ranch hand Whit also tells George that he thinks Curley's wife flaunts her body and has "got the eye goin' all the time on everybody." He agrees with George that she is trouble. Steinbeck gives us a more direct insight into Curley's wife's character in the scene when she meets Candy, Lennie and Crooks in Crooks' room. She sneers at the men, telling them that men are afraid to talk to her when there is more than one of them present, "You're all scared of each other, that's what." When she says, "They left all the weak ones here" she may mean it as an insult, but she also seems to accept that she is one of "the weak ones" who has been left behind, because she knows Curley…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Outline For Curley's Wife

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck creates characters that play important roles throughout the story that contribute to themes and connect readers to an overall focus. Curley’s wife, a minor, but significant character in the story, contributes to the theme and is partly responsible for Lennie’s death. Her sinful actions and petty personality make her a character that isn’t respected by others and is known for being trouble around the ranch. Disregarding her flirtations ways and overall self-absorbance, her dreams of a promising future are destroyed. Her gaudy appearance and constant search for Curley makes the men on the ranch view her as a cheater and inappropriate woman. However, after hearing her story, some of…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is curley's wife a victim

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Curley’s wife is truly an admirable character. One example is when she and Lennie were talking in the barn, Curley’s…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The only female character in the novel whose name has been given to readers as Curley’s Wife is a paradox within her own life and its circumstances, and where she ended up as a result. Throughout the novel she was upset at the way she was living because she claimed that she could have “ ‘...been in the movies, an[d] had nice clothes...’ ” however the unfortunate truth was that she was stuck living the life she was living (Steinbeck 89). This as well as the fact that readers constantly saw her as mean and toxic, but only in her death they saw her as she truly was; “... the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone…” and she looked very plain and beautiful (Steinbeck 92-93). She, much like many other characters in the novel, had a dream for herself. However the fact is that she unfortunately failed to see that dream become a reality. Steinbeck used the paradox in the way the men on the ranch saw her to show how unfairly treated she was. He showed this through her death, displayed as pure and beautiful, unlike the manipulative creature readers had come to know thanks to the perception of the men. It is unfortunate that she never lived long enough to pursue her dreams, instead stuck in a place where she was not happy and trapped in a failing marriage. The paradox is simple, she had dreams, and they were crushed. Not everybody, as saddening as it is, gets to live their ideal life. Most do, but some tend to stop…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays