Curleys Wife
Mediums by which she is presented to the reader by Steinbeck is by how she is described by both the characters and Steinbeck, what she is wearing and her body language when she is with the workers, her actions with the characters and what she says (the hidden meaning of what she says). One of the ways the reader can learn about a Character is through the other Characters description and their opinion of that character, in the case of Curlers’ Wife the first we hear of her is from Crooks, the old swamped, when he is talking to George during a game of cards.
He states, “she got the eye” which shows that she is a flirtatious and an immoral woman because she has only been married for two weeks. Candy also describes her as a “tart” (a tart is a woman who dresses or behaves in a way that is considered tasteless and sexually provocative). The fact that Curlers’ Wife is introduced through rumors means that the reader has a biased impression of her. Already the reader has been introduced to the idea that Curlers’ Wife is a ‘tart” and an immoral flirtatious woman. This idea is the further strengthened by 1st appearance.
Her first appearance of the story is made in the doorway of the bunkhouse, asking the whereabouts of her husband which is revealed to be a weak excuse to make interaction with the workers. She is wearing “red cotton house dress and red mules, on the instep of which were little bouquets of red strict feathers. ” Emphasizing her sexual presence with the color red, but the emphasis of the color red also shows danger because the color red is sometimes associated with danger, which shows she is a dangerous character.
Additionally, the bouquets of ostrich feathers, also described as red, on the insteps of her shoes would have been extremely expensive in the time which “Of Mice and Men” was set; and that Curlers’ Wife not only wears them on her feet but in the middle of the ‘Dust Bowl’ expresses her desperate need for attention and she is willing to ruin her best pair of shows in order to main he attention of the workers, despite the fact she has a husband. Our image of Curlers wife being immoral women in then further reinforced when she Starts talking to George,” ‘Oh! She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. ” Not only is Cur less’ Wife described as a floozy but also a dangerous woman. Upon entering Crooks’ room it is clear that Candy and Crooks are afraid of her when they both “scowled down from her eyes” this deliberate prevention of eye contact suggest that they are scared of her or they don’t feel as if they need to dignify her with eye contact. The word “scowling’ means that the presence of her displeases Candy and Crooks.
In the story we know that both Crooks and Curlers’ Wife are similar in more the one way both are obviously intelligent and perceptive of themselves as well as others, and both contain a deep bitterness stemming from their mistreatment. Both contain a bleak and accurate insight of the fundamental nastiness of people and they are discriminated (When she threatens to get him hung “l could get so strung so quickly it ant even funny’ and isolated (In the novella there are many quotes to show that Candy’s’ Wife is a lonely Oman “l never get to talk to nobody. Et awful lonely. ” “What’s the matter with me? Anti I got a right to talk to nobody? ” “Seems like they anti none Of them cares how goat live”. ) In the novella she is also linked to The American Dream (Dictionary Definition: is the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. Because she is talking to Leonie about what happened to her before she get married (this shows that even though she is married and has a husband to talk to SE still rise to talk to the workers, but it also shows a vulnerable side of her it tells us that maybe she doesn’t get to talk much at her house that she has bad relationship). She reveals that her mother denied her the opportunity to join a traveling show (” I always thought my 01′ lady stole it”) when she was fifteen and then, years later, a talent SCOUt spotted her and promised to take her to Hollywood to become a movie star.
When nothing came of it, she decided to marry Curler, whom she dislikes. “Well, I wasn’t goanna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your teeters” This tells she left home because she believed and her mother was denying her of her dream and she only married Curler to get away from her mother which leads to question Does she have a good relationship with her husband?
Curly is arrogant We know he is arrogant because in the novella he picks with the biggest worker there (Leonie) believing that he has enough strength to take down the biggest worker “Come on, yea big bastard Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitchy is goanna laugh at me” Curler is deliberately shouting at Leonie because he thinks he can win because of his arrogance. His wife is a flirt and definitely lacks the attention (the right kind of attention) she should receive from her husband. She’s a trophy, and he treats her as such.
They had a short engagement (they married the night they met), and Curlers’ wife, from the little we really know about her married Curly for little more than to get away from her mother. Curly and his wife have a very unstable marriage, lacking in communication, love and respect. Curly believes that manipulation, intimidation, and insensitivity provide him with power over a wife who is fact just a lonely, young woman who needs to be loved. Not to et the wife off the hook here; Curlers’ wife is far from stupid.
She likes the money and the nice house; she never tries to leave him. But she also holds some power in their relationship. Curly wife possessed his mind, and as I’ve already stated he’s very jealous. Being the only woman on the ranch, Curly is even more worried about her behavior with the men who work there……… If he didn’t know where she was for even a minute, he was off looking for her. Example;” You seen a girl around here? ” he demanded angrily. ” She made him crazy and enjoyed it. So ultimately, neither one of them are very happy it’s a pretty unhealthy relationship.
