Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. The men on the ranch fear Curley's wife. In Of Mice and Men, how and why does Lennie kill Curley's wife? And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffsa n***** an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheepan' likin' it because they ain't nobody else" (4.103). Curley is in fact an intensely abusive person with a major case of small-guy complex. She also knows how to use her tongue. The irony is that while she pretends to be looking for Curley, she is actually trying to avoid him. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Throughout the narrative, Curley's wife is shown to be on the "outside, looking in." Curley's wife has a lot of names, but we can't repeat any of them in mixed company. While she is lonely, very much like the other characters, she also exploits her power as the Boss' son's wife to threaten others. Her marriage to Curley could be because of this. She is seen as a position like in any marriage in the 1930s before and 2 she is seen as nothing more than a ticket to prison jail bate as George describes this is true because Lenny is lured in by her. (Whichlet's just say itmaybe a tad impractical for a ranch?) (Click the character infographic to download.). When she dies, we get a look at the girl she might have been: the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.

She treats the world as it is hers for the taking and everything revolves around her i.e. Steinbeck generally depicts women as troublemakers who bring ruin on men and drive them mad. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. In fact, women are treated with contempt throughout the course of the book. What does the title Of Mice and Men mean? She is on the outside of so much, "looking in." Her fingernails were red. They do not want the bosses son, Curley, to get angry. As the only woman on the ranch, her life is lonely, and Curley isn't much company: he'd rather talk about himself than anything else. He tells us that 'the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off'. Curley's wife is so lost, lonely and insignificant that Steinbeck does not even give her a name. After her argument with her mother, it is suggested that she left home, and this was the same night that she had met Curley. Despite Steinbecks rendering, Curleys wife emerges as a relatively complex and interesting character. She also talks a lot (well, twice) about how she could "of went with shows. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. What quotes show that Crooks is lonely in Of Mice and Menby John Steinbeck? Curley's wife is depicted as voluptuous and one whose reputation as a "tart" is essential to her characterization. Through her own devices or through the configuration in which she lives, Curley's wife is relegated to the periphery. Well, no one ever accused Steinbeck of being a feminist. How Did Critics React to Of Mice and Men? What quotes reveal Curley's power in Of Mice and Men? It's not a coincidence that that she ends up dying because she didn't want Lennie to mess up her hair: look, and even touch if you wantbut don't get too comfortable. What is the importance of Curley's wife in the novel Of Mice and Men? Latest answer posted April 17, 2021 at 9:59:00 AM. She certainly is this when she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the fifth section. She is not one for the saying treat others how you want to be treated because she will say what she thinks but if someone else dose she will get them removed because she is the owner of the ranches sons wife. Let's just call her trouble: she's a good-looking woman who knows it, wearing makeup, form-fitting dresses, and ostrich-feathered high heels. A girl was standing there looking in. The men are lonely which only highlights her danger. What do their actions tell you about each of them? She looks "pretty," something that she had always desired with her dream of being in "pitchers." We are familiarized with Lennie's Aunt Clara, but Curley's wife is the woman who the reader sees the most. More books than SparkNotes. Why does George kill Lennie in Of Mice and Men? Just like Curley, she seeks out people who are smaller and weaker to make herself feel better. And when she didn't receive this letter, she had an argument with her mum. Not jus' one, either. Of Mice and Men is not kind in its portrayal of women. She spends the novel trying to find company under the guise of looking for her husband. she gets angry when some one doesnt talk to her. Her death is the result of her desire to forge human interaction, to move from "looking in" to being inside. It's probably a combination of both. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. Latest answer posted February 21, 2020 at 11:46:26 AM. Latest answer posted January 31, 2020 at 4:15:52 PM. Even Curley wants her to stay home and not talk to the guys. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. And she gets what she deserves (by the logic of the book): death. She is incapable of being able to formulate effective and sustaining bonds with others on the ranch. While she can be narcissistic, she also has a vulnerable, more nave side to her, and this is revealed when she tells Lennie of her dreams of becoming an actress. In her moment of greatest vulnerability, Curleys wife seeks out even greater weaknesses in others, preying upon Lennies mental handicap, Candys debilitating age, and the color of Crookss skin in order to steel herself against harm. This shows the way she is marginalised on the ranch by the workers.The word 'awful' demonstrates the depth of her isolation. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Steinbeck sets the scene as a sad time in the barn when she is dead Curlys wife lay on her back and she was half covered with hay and there was a symbol of freedom from the life she was given which was bird that came through the barn window circled her and flew out again. When she wanders across some of the men, she says "what am I doin'? She's very young, and Steinbeck emphasises this by continuously referring to her as a "girl" which suggests to us that she may only be a teenager or young adult herself. She is perceived as being "outside" in terms of how Curley sees her in terms of faithfulness in their marriage. Same with the offer to go to Hollywood: Curley's wife convinces herself that her mother stole the letter, rather than realize that the guys weren't interested in her talent. She cruelly cuts down Candy for his old age and meekness, Lennie for being "a dum dum," andoh, yeahshe tells Crooks, "I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny" (4.120). She's also had a bad relationship with her mum. This could perhaps be due to the fact that he never actually intended to send her a letter. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Steinbeck is able to draw this out in his description of how she looks, one that shows cosmetic beauty as a reality that is as much for others as it is for oneself: Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. Describe Curley and his wife in Of Mice and Men. The whole quote can reflect on how women were expected to be independent and separated from the society in America during the 1930s. Steinbeck devotes attention to her physical description, a cultivated reflection of both what she wants to display to others and simultaneously how she wishes to appropriate how others see her.

When she barges in on Lennie, Crooks, and Candy in Chapter Four, she scornfully notes that they "left all the weak ones here" (4.92). However, it also reinforces the novellas grim worldview. She was promised by a man to receive a letter from Hollywood, however, she never did receive. Her marriage to Curley could be a result of her homelessness after she leaves the home of her mother, because she had made it clear on several occasion that Curley is not a nice man and that she does not like him. Such a description of Curley's wife reflects much about who she is and how she carries her self. The trajectory of Curley's wife's characterization reflects the sadness in how human beings seek acceptance by others at all costs and place primacy on their own experience as opposed to something larger.

In the end she was talking about her hopes and dreams and she said she wanted to be an actress and she had met two actors which both said she looked like she would make a good actress and that she could join them the first one that came to her and asked her to come with him, but her mum said no then the same night she met Curly she met someone from Hollywood and he said he will send her a letter but her mum had supposedly stole the letter and hidden it the letter was never found she also said that she never liked curly. Not that she's out to make friends, or anything. What are two examples showing how Lennie is discriminated against because of his disability in the book Of Mice and Men. Can we blame Curley's wife for her pettiness, cruelty, and self-obsession? Steinbeck's description of her body is a moment in which one sees that she has moved from margin to center, even if she no longer exists in the world: Curleys wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. Although her purpose is rather simple in the books opening pagesshe is the tramp, tart, and bitch that threatens to destroy male happiness and longevityher appearances later in the novella become more complex. Latest answer posted December 20, 2020 at 12:19:48 PM. Why does Curley's wife not have a name in Of Mice and Men? Latest answer posted February 12, 2016 at 5:51:30 AM. Curley's wife's obsession with herself ultimately leads to her death. Basically, Curley's wife is just self-obsessed, and unable to judge herself and her position honestly. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers. 2022 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal. The only time where one sees her on the "inside" of human interaction is when she speaks with Lennie on that sad Sunday afternoon. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. She is very harsh to crooks and she makes threats to kill him i.e. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She's basically like the Pioneer Woman, only less tech-savvy. She projects undertones of sexuality in almost everything she says. Curley's wife is only able to find this peace in death. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers" (4.102). One way Steinbeck presents Curley's wife is as lonely and desperate.Whilst talking to Lennie in the barn alone, she says; "I never get to talk to nobody, I get awful lonely. " http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/characters.html. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. But we're tender-hearted here at Shmoop headquarters, and we can't help feeling a wee bit bad for this poor girl. In the end she was depicted as finally free when Lenny killed her by accident and I think we were supposed to feel sorry for her but in a way she should not have even been in the barn with Lennie and should have been in the Curlys house. Not jus' one, either. She seeks company from the other ranch men by constantly coming to the bunk house or the barn under the pretence of looking for Curley when ironically, she wants to get away from him. Curleys wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to be a prime example of this destructive tendencyCurleys already bad temper has only worsened since their wedding. In describing her devoid of "meanness, and the plannings and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention," Steinbeck brings out her humanity. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to show us that curly's wife could be great danger to George and Lennie. She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head, and her lips were parted. Curly's wife blocks the light, and the light symbolises hope for their future. At every opportunity, she talks about her lost opportunities. Copyright 1999 - 2022 GradeSaver LLC. She flirts deliberately with the ranch hands, to make sure they suffer Curley's hot-headed, glove-wearing wrath and to make Curley feel even worse about himselftwo for the price of once. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. When she is going out around the ranch she is always looking for someone to flirt with when she is meant to be in Curlys house. Let us know your assignment type and we'll make sure to get you exactly the kind of answer you need. The description of how Curley's wife looks and its intended effect on the men while she is alive is reflection of the shallowness intrinsic to human beings. In the start she is shown wearing mostly red the colour symbols danger and making George think that she is going to be trouble, and the position of her body means she was flirting, Her body was thrown forward mainly to gain more attention and she is aware that she is flirting and uses an excuse like Have you seen Curly . She is a temptress of sorts and she is a possession of Curlys (hence her name). Or is she, like the ranchhands, just a victim of her circumstances? This is replaced with something more substantive within her stature upon dying. or at least peddles, because it doesn't seem like anyone is buying) sex. When she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the stable, she admits to feeling a kind of shameless dissatisfaction with her life. They simply can't afford to lose their job during a depression. of went with shows. She's half-afraid of Lennie, but she also wants his attention and praise. Steinbeck is able to draw much out of the only significant female character in Of Mice And Men. (5). She's a tease, leading guys on to make herself feel better. Few, if anyone, on the ranch knows her as anything more than a "tart" or a "vamp," judging her on her physical appearance and the way in which she carries herself. Not affiliated with Harvard College. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Aside from wearisome wives, Of Mice and Men offers limited, rather misogynistic, descriptions of women who are either dead maternal figures or prostitutes. Slim thinks that she is to be at home as he said to Curley. As a reader we might think that curly's wife is a threat to Geaoege and Lennie's dream. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Way to make friends and influence people, Curley's wife. She speaks of a traveling actor who told her she could join their show, without gathering that this is a pretty standard pick-up line. Her vulnerability at this moment and laterwhen she admits to Lennie her dream of becoming a movie starmakes her utterly human and much more interesting than the stereotypical vixen in fancy red shoes. What is Curley's wife's dream in Of Mice and Menby John Steinbeck? 2022 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Essential Quotes by Character: Lennie Small. get him hung but at that time black people had just been released from enslavement and she calls him names like nigga and saying that she can get him strung up in a tree and nobody would care and crooks does not react in any way or form of movement all he said was yes ma am as if he was still enslaved.