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How Does Steinbeck Presents Curley's Wife in of Mice and Men

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How Does Steinbeck Presents Curley's Wife in of Mice and Men
Curley’s wife is a significant personality in the novel. John Steinbeck presents her in different ways during the novel and uses different methods to influence the reader’s judgement, for instance through her look, as she is a complex character. Significantly Steinbeck makes it clear that nurture turns her into the person she is in the novel, her nature is different. He uses language to show us who she is as revealed by colour and light symbolism; incongruity of her appearance and the setting; simile. For the majority of the book she is labelled in a negative way as a treacherous, kittenish character which could be interpreted as a replication of the way civilization observed the character of women in the novel. Sometimes, Steinbeck includes thoughts denouncing Curley’s wife. He also points out some of her good qualities. Due to this, readers can interpret for themselves if Steinbeck thinks highly of her, or if he does not like her. Nevertheless later in the book Steinbeck deploys the reader into seeing her as complex, and feeling consideration for Curley’s wife; revealing her as a victim, anxious and secluded in a man’s world. Although he may go back and forth on Curley’s wife, in the end, Steinbeck is mainly condemning her.
Steinbeck explores her as attractive towards man through her beauty and an attention seeker. In the passage the first words that Steinbeck uses are that “Both men glanced up,” and through this we are introduced to Curley’s wife through her effect on men and not through any notion of herself, which Steinbeck does to show us she is only worthy for the use of men. The word glanced up shows that she want men to look at her for she is has the beauty of an actress. Not extended moment when Steinbeck exaggerates “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway way cut off.” Here, Steinbeck uses the light symbolically to highlight how imposing she is and present the idea that she is the obstacle to a better life. The image of Curley’s wife casting a

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