As seen throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men, there are many instances in which Curley’s wife is harassed immensely by her husband and other ranchers, which has an overall influence on her as a person. During the time period in which this book takes place, women still did not have as much power and were not equal to men. Women of this time period are often looked at as their husband’s property. They were expected to do as their husbands commanded and were often not allowed to make their own decisions. These kinds of conditions made a great impact on women of this time. Likewise, these circumstances can be observed to see how they affect Curley’s wife’s character as a whole.
While it is clear the harassment is damaging to Curley’s wife, an invasion of privacy may…show more content… While in the barn alone with Lennie, Curley’s wife tells Lennie, “You can talk to people but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody,” (Steinbeck 87). From this statement, it is easy to conclude Curley is very controlling over his wife by not allowing her to speak with others. Although, this action is very hypocritical since Curley goes into the town every Saturday to drink and potentially have sex with other women in the cathouses. Along with being controlled by Curley, Curley’s wife was also controlled by her mother before she met Curley. While speaking to Lennie, Curley’s wife says, “Well, a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with the show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me,” (Steinbeck 88). In this quotation Curley’s wife describes how she could fulfill her dream of becoming an actress, but her mother did not let her do it since Curley’s wife is too young. Throughout her whole life Curley’s wife has not been allowed to do what she truly wants and was never able to pursue her dream, making her extremely
