How Curley's wife is presented in Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck Essay

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Explore the ways one or two minor characters are presented in the text “Of Mice and Men”
“I never get to talk to nobody” – Curley’s Wife
Of mice and men is a novella set in the 1930s. It is based on the theme of dreams and how they are crushed, amongst others. This book also gives an insight into the lives of men and women on ranch in America during the depression.
Women pot the right to vote in the late 1920s, but during the depression, people lost interest in the women’s rights. There was a return to old attitudes and saw then either as house wives or as whores. In this novella, Steinbeck tackles many issued for women during the time.
One of his minor character’s in the novella is Curley’s wife. She is a very interesting character to …show more content…
This could also suggest that Curley’s wife is aware of the fact that her body gets her the attention but in other interpretations she could just be too naive to understand the negative image advertised by her.
In the novella, Steinbeck uses many details to help portrait the relationship between Curley’s wife and men on the ranch. Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as a pessimist, she is a women in the 1930s and so she would never be treated equally. This is due to the social attitudes towards women in the 1930s. They were never treating women equally and certainly not Curley. This was majorly how most of the women lived in the 1930s. But, Curley’s wife struggles to understand this. “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever”. This makes the reader feel sympathy for Curley’s wife and creates an effect of understanding towards her situation. This quote also shows how lonely Curley’s wife gets and that she almost is in a situation of giving up because no-one is willing to talk to her except Curley, who most of the time is screaming and doubting her.
“So I married Curley”. Furthermore the reader is given the impression that Curley’s wife HAD to marry Curley because otherwise she wouldn’t have a chance of leading a good life. This is also illustrated when she says “sure I gotta husband”. This creates an image that she doesn’t like her husband but also suggests that Curley’s not fit to be a husband because every time we see him in the
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