Who is curleys wife in of mice and men

Curley's wife, like the other players in the drama, is simply a character type and the only woman in the plot. She is defined by her role: Curley's wife or possession. George and Candy call her by other names such as "jailbait" or "tart. Lennie is fascinated by her and cannot take his eyes off her. He keeps repeating "she's purty. Curley's wife knows her beauty is her power, and she uses it to flirt with the ranch hands and make her husband jealous.

She is utterly alone on the ranch, and her husband has seen to it that no one will talk to her without fearing a beating. Steinbeck 's initial portrayal of Curley's wife shows her to be a mean and seductive temptress.

Alive, she is connected to Eve in the Garden of Eden. She brings evil into mens' lives by tempting them in a way they cannot resist. Eventually, she brings about the end of the dream of Eden, the little farm where George and Lennie can live off the fat of the land. Plagiarism leads to disqualification. I have had to do that as a teacher before now and it was the saddest day of my career.

Of Mice and Men is a novella set in and around the Californian landscape of Salinas in the s at the time of the Great Depression in American history, a time of great financial and emotional struggle, where concepts of family life and societal hierarchies are stretched to the limit in an attempt to keep society afloat and prosperous.

She enters the action as a vulnerable young married woman and leaves the plot in a manner that does not befit her dreams and aspirations in this life. She wants to be the Hollywood actress, have all the fame and glory that comes with it and ends up in a brutal and utterly hopeless marriage with a man who possesses her and a father in law known for being just as brutal. She is the only female on an otherwise, all male ranch and so, she is the one true victim in this tragic portrayal of life at that time.

It is, one can say, a societal comment for the time it was written. We first see her described as wearing her summer dress and bright red lipstick, asking the men some questions, which is meant to make the reader identify her with a certain type of female, one that is loose with her ways and willing to flirt.

But this may not have been his intention, for he has stated elsewhere that he sees her in a positive light, as someone who is trying to climb out of the rut she is in, a feisty example of American womanhood at the time.

Indeed, it is more than likely that a man reading this novella would see her in a certain light whilst a female reader may see her more considerately. She begins as a similar character to Eve in the Garden of Eden - a seductive, evil temptress who can do nothing but add harm to the lives of George and Lennie. She brings evil into mens' lives by tempting them in a way they cannot resist.

Eventually, she brings about the end of the dream of Eden, the little farm where George and Lennie can live off the fat of the land. Her death at Lennie's hands means the end of George and Lennie's companionship and their dream. We see, therefore, that the entire plot rest on Curley's Wife and her character traits. The two points above highlight an irony both in the text and in history - if women such as Curley's Wife play such an important role in both the plot development, and life in general - why, historically, were they subjected to second rate treatment?