John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, in the Salinas Valley, California. It establishes the prospect of the American Dream, discrimination,loneliness, and disenfranchisement through its characters. George and Lennie provided the value of the American Dream, to which the leading female role, Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. The novella seeks to demonstrate the way of which life was like for the characters of all different statuses and backgrounds. Through Curley’s wife’s character, we are able to see how life was like for a women during …show more content…
Steinbeck quotes, “Jesus what a tramp.”, blatantly giving out the impression Curley’s wife had on the men and her role in the novella. She is commonly referred to by her looks. On page 51, Steinbeck quotes, “Well, stick around an’ keep your eyes open. You’ll see plenty”(51), that gives the recurring impression that she is subject to sexual objectification and only worthy of being known by her looks rather than who she is herself. Wherever Curley went on the ranch she was objectified for her “purty” looks and desperation for attention. Although in this sense she was more a prepotrater rather than a victim. Curley’s wife used her beauty to seek attention from the guys on the ranch, whether positive or negative. On page 31 these three segments, “ She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward... She bridled a little...She smiles archly and twitched her body.”(31), that show her as acceptently gaining the wanted attention from the men because of her body. On page 77, Steinbeck’s quotes, “Her face was heavily made up.”(77), the definition of beauty within the text. It’s implied that makeup makes a women beautiful, not what is underneath. The other women in the text fulfill the sexual pleasure position of women. Old Susy's place is a well known common place for the guys on the ranch for the “girls”, drinks, and …show more content…
Each set of characters presented a new theme to give meaning to the book. Curleys wife presented sexism and how gender played a role in who will get to experience and hold the American Dream. She also gave the awareness of how women were continuously dehumanized and viewed as less than equal to men during that time. Steinbeck was inspired to write Of Mice and Men, from his childhood experiences and observations of immigrants moving from ranch to ranch in search of jobs. This gives a representation of how he believe the American Dream was unattainable. Steinbeck explored the nature and lives of the people during that time and connected that to the characters in the novella which set the stage for the
In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote two stories, The Chrysanthemums and Of Mice and Men. In these stories, Steinbeck highlighted the struggle and oppression of women during that time Both of his writings took place on a ranch in Salinas, California during the 1930’s, during the great depression. Both Elisa from The Chrysanthemums and Curley's wife from Of Mice and Men had internal conflicts and despised their husbands. Steinbeck's women proved to be strong and intelligent, especially compared to the men around them.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is set during the Great Depression, whereas the American Dream is a crucial belief that is a part of the itinerant workers’ life. As itinerant workers, people worked from ranch to ranch, hoping to achieve their dream. Besides the hard work, the author Steinbeck reveals the tragic death of Lennie at the end of the story. A number of characters like George, Lennie, Curley and Curley’s wife are all responsible for the death of Lennie at the end of the story, however, George, Lennie himself and Curley’s wife are the most culpable.
In this essay I am going to be assessing the character Curleys Wife from Steinbeck’s book Of Mice And Men. The book is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression it features two farm workers called George and Lennie. The travel around together in search of work sharing a dream of a place of their own, a small ranch where they can live and work for themselves. It tells the story of how violence may erupt to destroy those dreams. Curleys wife is a character in the book who from the brief encounters with her is presented in two ways. Firstly the dangerous, flirtatious character who isn’t trusted by the rest of the ranch workers but then later one we realize how she is just a victim
The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is set in America in the 1930’s and it describes the lives of migrant farmers as they go from farm to farm looking for jobs. It also shows the loneliness of the characters and the hard work that they put in. The main characters of the book are Lennie, a man-child, and George, a small man but very powerful character that takes care of Lennie in their journey. Also when they get to the farm they meet the bosses wife who is very lonely and looks for company in the workers. Steinbeck uses characterization to bring his characters to life using various techniques.
A social issue that Steinbeck desired to reveal in Of Mice and Men was the reality women were facing as they were regarded as property or objects and not as individual people in the 1930s. Women would often times not even have the chance to defend and explain themselves against this cynical perspective on them, “Well, I think Curley's married a tart... ‘Listen to me, you crazy bastard,’ he said fiercely ‘Don’t you even take a look at at that bitch’...You mean Curly's girl?” (Steinbeck 28, 32, 55). The first thing we hear George say about Curley’s wife is that she’s a tart and the second thing we hear about her that
Some characters in this novel are alienated by mainstream society because they do not fit society’s ideal image of a person. And they are all not accepted as human beings. Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the social injustice of how people were treated during the Great Depression is explored through the characters Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie, to show that society actually needs to become stronger than it really is.
American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.
Steinbeck has written ''Of Mice And Men '' about an adventure of George and Lennie trying to accomplish their American dream's during the Great Depression during the 1930's where thousands of people lost their jobs in the Wall Street Crash making them feel hopeless. George and Lennie come to work at a ranch near Soledad in California. There they meet fellow ranch mates and a woman called Curley's Wife. In this essay I will focus on how Curley's Wife's personality and actions change throughout the novella and who she affect her and other bunkmates throughout the novella. In addition to that I would be showing how Steinbeck creates tension by using Curleys Wife.
In 1929, tears swept the nation and gloom bestowed itself upon a once happy place. The Great Depression had started. People lost everything ,so many became migrant workers. Of Mice and Men, a classic novel written by John Steinbeck, emphasizes many sad themes, but gives us a good insight on what life was like in the 1940’s for many people. Although there are other themes, rootlessness, loneliness, and poverty are extremely prominent throughout the novel in many characters.
The most important dream in this novel is that of the two main characters Lennie and George. They
In the novella, Of Mice and Men, there is a character named Curley’s Wife. Curley’s Wife is first shown in the novella as a character who is provocative and represented as darkness. Throughout the story she is dehumanized, objectified, and sexualized. Therefore, Steinbeck crafts the character, Curley’s Wife, in order to convey how the american dream is unattainable through him showing sexism and discrimination towards women.
In this essay I will show how Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife in a number of ways throughout the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, showing both how she is portrayed as a ‘nice girl’ as well as a ‘floozy’. This novel was set during the great depression and is written around two key themes of the American dream, which every ‘ranch hand’ owned their own patch of land, and loneliness, the only common feeling that each individual in the novel feared. Loneliness was the main theme that caused Curley’s wife to be interpreted in a negative way by the other ranch men.
John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men is an extraordinary novel with unique characteristics. The novel is about an uncommon friendship between two extremely different individuals who are living and working together. This story belong to the genres tragic realistic fiction, historical fiction and drama. The linking between the novel and The Great Depression emphasizes throughout the story, which makes the novel very realistic and down to earth. The author touches on several themes such as: the unreachable American dream, the economic injustices, loneliness, friendship and people’s propensity for cruelty. In this book review, we will get into a deeper understanding of what the actual story means.
‘Of mice and men’ is a tale of loneliness and hardship felt by the people living in America during the 1930 's. Written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937, it tells the heartbreaking story of two ranch workers during the depression; George Milton and Lennie Small. At the time America was very poor, with a shortage of jobs so people had to travel in search of new jobs. As many people were constantly moving, lasting friendships or relationships were hard to come across. People became scared to have friendships, scared of each other making them lonely and isolated. Most of the characters lived by ‘every man for himself’; only having to care for themselves, not having to worry about others and therefore
John Steinbeck wrote ‘Of Mice and Men’ to show how hard life was for migrant ranch workers during the time of the Great Depression and how they were often exploited by their employers. In showing how George and Lennie’s dream of owning their own piece of land did not come true, Steinbeck explores a wider theme, criticising the idea of the American Dream. The American Dream tells people that there is ‘opportunity for each... regardless of the fortuitous circumstance of birth and position. Steinbeck criticises this as these ranch workers were given few opportunities. Settings play a very important part in the novel as they pinpoint clear times and places giving a sense of realism to the story, but they are also used to create atmosphere.