Curley's Wife Analysis

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Of Mice and Men, one of Steinbeck's classic novellas, is constructed on the strange friendship between George Milton and Lennie Smalls and their journey to achieving the American Dream. On their quest, they arrive at a farm where they meet a nameless farm wife who is simply referred to as Curley's wife. Throughout the novella she is objectified and isolated which helps develop the theme of loneliness. Because she is a woman, she is deprived of many opportunities to have dreams and goals in her life. Steinbeck crafts Curley’s wife’s character to demonstrate the role of women in the 1930’s, and to prove that women will never be able to achieve the American Dream because of the sexist society present during that time period. Gender roles during the 1930’s were very prevalent. Men were free to do as they pleased while women were…show more content…
Curley’s wife is a perfect example of this as she was also expected to stay home without the freedom to socialize with others since she was the only female on the farm. Because of that Curley’s wife desperately desired a person she could talk to. In the story, while the ranch workers were off playing a game and Curley was busy, Curley’s wife decided to approach Lennie, a mentally impaired man with superhuman strength, and confide in him disregarding the potential risk on her life when being around a mentally unstable person.“I never get to talk to nobody...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 nobody”(87). Steinbeck shows the yearning for companionship experienced by Curley’s wife when she pours her past, her dreams, and her goals to Lennie, who is a stranger to her and implies that Curley is the main reason for her loneliness due to his jealousy. Even though she can speak with Curley, he does not
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