Preview

Comparing Of mice and men to the hunger games

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1594 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing Of mice and men to the hunger games
English essay improved by Anna Wood

John Steinbeck presents the less powerful characters as abused, mistreated outcasts who struggle to fit in with those par their own.

Outcasts can turn to each other but if they get too close or unstable it could demolish the both of them.” She knelt in the hay beside him” hay can be represented as horses and gives us the idea that they are about to die. Horses lay down when they know that their time is near. It could also show that they have no one but each other to turn to and that they are feeling even more excluded than ever before. It’s a bit like the Hunger Games as they need each other as allies to survive. They would help each other and because Curley’s wife knelt down beside him it’s like she sees him as one of her own, like they are on the same level power wise. I will return to this image later on in my essay.
We have been introduced to Curley’s wife as the libertine featherbrain by the males on the ranch “Jesus what a tramp [George to Lennie]”the boys don’t personally know her yet they are all prejudging her of her looks and the way she acts. This shows that the only way she has the power over the men is sexually. Not even Curley takes her seriously. She seems lonely and only wants to talk to the men so that she can relate to them and find a friend. The reason why the men would judge her so much is due to sexual frustration that is caused by her. This could also link back to the 1930’s as women we meant to just look pretty and pleasure their men. Not only that, they were seen to have no rights to themselves. They couldn’t vote, couldn’t go off on their own, they had to marry the first man that asks and do his dirty washing for the rest of their lives.
In Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife was viewed as “ jail bait” this basically means that she’s a trap that’s being fished into all of the men and trying to catch one unlucky sap to say he forced himself upon her. This could lead to being fired or being lynched. In the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Curley’s wife says “-Sat’day night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs- a nigger an’a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep-an likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else” (Steinbeck 78). Steinbeck shows discrimination against Curley’s wife because she has to waste away on the ranch without anybody to talk to except a bunch of outcasts. She could have been out with the guys, but nobody wanted to talk to her because they thought she was a tramp so they discriminated her. Now she’s lonely and can’t talk to anyone except for a few “bindle stiffs.” When she was killed, Steinbeck describes as “the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face” (Steinbeck 92-93). Steinbeck makes her seem like a tramp at first from what the ranch hands say about her, but all she wants to do is talk to someone. Since she is the only girl on the rancg and she is very pretty, the guys think that she is a tramp so they discriminate her. Curley’s wife becomes an outcast and it makes her lonely. All she wants to do is talk and interact with…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Analysis Of Curley's Wife

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Curley’s wife is the main women character in Steinbeck’s novel of mice and men. In this piece of writing I will be discussing the good and bad about Curley’s wife.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When we think of Seduction, Curley’s Wife comes into mind, she is the only woman on the ranch and is not treated well by the way Steinbeck describes her. The men on the ranch refer to her as “tramp” or “tart” and “looloo” as though she is not married and is one to sleep with many men. Curley’s wife is never given a name and is only referred to her husband. The first mention of Curley’s wife was when Candy describes her to George in the bunk house. Candy gives us a strong impression that Curley’s wife is flirtatious and even promiscuous female before we even meet her. As he says that “she’s get the eye” which means instead of being faithful to her husband. She tends to look for other male ranchers. But Curley, her husband does not recognize her as a person but more like a sexual object, Candy said that “he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife” this shows us Curley uses he wife as a trophy and she was never given a name in the novella, she is only treated as a possession of Curley and how no one else on the ranch wanted to get to know her but avoid her instead.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley’s wife is a young, pretty woman, who is mistrusted by her husband, Curley. The other characters refer to her only as ‘Curley's wife,’ which is significant as she is the only character in the novel without a name. She is a simple object or possession belonging to her husband and this shows the severity of the sexual discrimination in America in 1930s. I believe Steinbeck would have thought of her not as a person but a symbol. Almost everyone on the ranch is lonely and she symbolises this. The audience would come to believe she is a weak isolated character however, the men are fearful of her. She is the wife of their boss. She has power and this power creates fear among the ranch workers. She is both in charge and screaming for attention.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The men that work on the ranch have a different opinion as they call her a “tart” and “jail bait” they call her this because she flirts with the other ranch hands despite being married to curly. By using the word “jail” it shows that it is like being in a prison for her and she is stuck there. This is our very first introduction of Curley’s wife which makes a big impact on how we view her for the rest of the story. From this point onwards we always think of her as looking for trouble and living up to her name as being “jail bait”. Different readers would have different impressions of her as they may feel they could connect with her. A woman feels sorry for her because she is stuck at the barn with a load of men and was not able to for fill her dream of becoming an actor. As a man may think that she is just there to cause trouble. Another reason to feel sorry for her is because she is lonely, “Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by four house and listen to how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twice, and then bring in the ol’ right cross.” This shows that Curley’s wife is very lonely, as are so many people…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steinbeck often portrays his characters as organisms caught up in a survival of the fittest race where the strong prey on the weak and the weak prey on the weakest. It comes as no surprise that Curley’s wife, who is often discriminated against because of her gender, is quick to tell Lennie, Candy and Crooks that they are “the weak ones” who have been “left behind” on the farm. In some ways her words hurt because they are true, as each man discovers by himself in the novel.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In John Steinbecks classic work “of Mice and Men” never was it more true that the more things change the more they stay the same.In both the written book and the movie Steinbeck creates a world of untarnished disregard for the human condition and the almost acceptance of death as a part of the narritive of life. All of lifes virtues and vices are explored largely through the eyes of lennie, a lug of a man with a soft spot for his buddy george. Where the book and movie take us is largely a matter of creative license and artistic interpretation. Both the movie and the book had parts in them that were both similar, and different. I feel as if the movie puts a face to words and you can express the character easier. The book lets your imagination…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secondly, after Curley’s wife leaves, she is called many mean things by some of the ranch workers like “bitch”, “poison”, “tramp” and “jail bait”. This makes us feel prejudice against Curley’s wife. She is shown as a microcosm of how woman were treat in the 1930’s.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley's Wife Sexism

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sexism is a dynamic represented in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. This is characterized by the character Curley’s wife. One of her defining characteristics is the way she acts towards the men on the ranch. Jail bait is a word Georg uses when he tells Lennie to stay away from Curley’s wife. The slang “jail bait” is used to describe a person who can have you go to jail if you mess with him/her. For example, Curley’s wife can say something like Lennie attempted to rape her, and many people would believe her. This would make Lennie go to jail or worse. Curley’s wife is often demeaned by the men on the ranch as trouble. Although Curley’s wife dreams of going to Hollywood…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The way that John Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife throughout the book shows that he does not really like women. He makes her a women that only cares about her looks, and just flirts with the men on the ranch, “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”(Steinbeck 31). Steinbeck makes her act as if she is literally throwing herself towards the men. She is married to Curly, not so happily, yet she still flirts with almost every man working at the ranch. She walks around with a full face of makeup, lipstick and her face roughed, and she wears dresses and heels with ostrich feathers. She has no real job, so she…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley’s Wife suffers from a lack of identity. Throughout the entire book Curley’s Wife is simply referred to as ‘Curley’s Wife’ and if not, would be referred to by a demeaning name. This gives the sense of her being presented as either an object or possession of Curley’s. From our first introduction to Curley’s wife, we are shown that she is at the bottom regarding society status, simply from being a Woman. However, some…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the passage, Steinbeck uses contrast and repetition to create strong imagery in our minds regarding Curley’s wife. The careful juxtaposition of ‘the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off’ and ‘a girl’ is surprising and shows the reader how despite these tones of darkness and immorality conveyed Steinbeck about her, she is but a young, naïve little girl. She is also ‘looking in’, which effectively conveys curiosity and shows how apart from everyone she is, and could suggest a longing for…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley’s wife always hoped to be an actress and even after she was married and settled down on the ranch, she still had those hopes of being famous in the back of her head. For example, when she gets annoyed with Lennie and Crooks she begins bragging about almost being in shows when she was younger, “ ‘...Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…’ She was breathless with indignation. ‘—Sat'iday night. Ever'body out doin' som'pin'. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep—an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else.’ " (Steinbeck 78). However, as seen above, that bragging soon turns into resentment toward her younger self for never following her dreams. Through this we can see that even though she is stuck in a lousy marriage on a random ranch and treated as less than everybody else simply because she is a woman, she still hopes to make it out and get to perform and be in…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We were all born with a certain degree of power. The key to success is discovering this innate power and using it daily to deal with whatever challenges come our way” (Les Brown). It is important to realize that an individual’s power can change due to the experiences he or she faces. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck helps the reader to understand that there are different levels of power in society and how those levels can change in different situations. Steinbeck expresses the characters as symbols of power, or lack thereof, to illustrate that it is difficult to make vertical movements within the levels of power in society.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Curley’s wife eventually goes on to be the very cause of the destruction of George and Lennie’s dream and this statement acts as a foreshadowing device for the detrimental role she’ll eventually play. The term ‘jailbait’ itself carries various connotations. The dictionary definition is ‘a young woman, or young women collectively, considered in sexual terms but under the age of consent’ and from that itself we can see that the term carries sexual implications. The beginning of the word, ‘jail’ implies that she is dangerous while ‘bait’ implies that as a character, she would reel people in to harmful situations and this overall creates the impression that Steinbeck wants us to have of her; someone that is destructive, dangerous and almost destined to condemn the others.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays