Loneliness In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

During the 1900’s, there was a large division between males and females. Women were stereotyped as weak and passive, with little to no freedoms not to mention they were unable to attain work as easily as men. In Of Mice and Men and Flowers for Algernon both Curley’s wife and Fay help further the point that women didn’t have it simple in the 1900’s. Through their levels of loneliness, their mistreatment as women, and their image of only being an object, it is apparent that these women faced many challenges during their existence.

Loneliness takes form in many different actions and characteristics. In both Of Mice and Men and Flowers for Algernon, Fay and Curley’s Wife’s loneliness forms into a flirtatious nature.
Despite being married to
During her appearance in Crooks room, she says “ Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny,” (Steinbeck ?). Using her label, as the bosses wife, she tears down others in order to feel a sense of worth provided that she is the only women on the ranch and hardly even gets attention from her own husband. When talking to Candy and the men in the bunkhouse she says, “they left all the weak ones here..” She is degrading others to make herself feel more powerful identically to what she did with Crooks. In Of Mice and Men loneliness conforms into power over one another as also shown in Crooks. However, it is no surprise that Curley’s Wife uses this technique, to not only gain attention but to feel a sense of worth in a hostile world. Curley’s Wife’s flirtatious nature and pushy behavior cause her to end up
You mean Curley’s girl?” (Steinbeck 55). Curley’s Wife is seen here as Curley’s possession hence the name Curley’s wife. These two lack strong communication and pure love, as Curley’s Wife is forced into the house much of the time, for fear that she is having an affair with Slim. However, during the book Curley is seen at the cathouse which proves that Curley’s Wife was nothing more than a possession and shows his lack of tenderness for his own wife. After flirting with George, Slim says, “well, you ain’t tryin’ very hard. I seen him goin’ in your house.’ She was suddenly apprehensive. ‘Bye Boys,’ she called into the bunk house, and she hurried away,” (Steinbeck 32). She is alarmed after realizing Curley is going back to the house for the fear that she will run into a problem with his staunch personality. They appear to always be looking for each other yet never able to find each other on such a small ranch. Curley is constantly asking the boys “what the hell she’s doing” and “where the hell she is,” (Steinbeck 37). Not only does this show how unhealthy their relationship as wife and husband are but also shows how possessive he is of her, hence the reason she is seen as just an object of Curley’s