The Role Of Curley's Wife In Of Mice And Men

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The short novella, Of Mice and Men, shows the themes and barriers of gender, race, age, and disabilities. The flirty female of the ranch, Curley’s wife, represents the gender barrier and women's roles in the 1930’s. Her role was only to be property of Curley; this idea was stressed by the fact she is only known as ‘Curley’s wife’ and has no actual name. By the other men of the ranch, she is seen as an object and is harassed, dissed, disrespected and abused. Much like any of the other characters, she represents an emotion as well as a barrier: loneliness and solitariness. Her presence and actions affect everyone, whether it’s making others feel hostile or on-edge to almost begging people to listen and pay attention to her. Overall, Curley’s wife is a flat, sympathetic character, representing women’s roles and loneliness of that time period. Curley’s wife is first addressed with a warning from the old man of the ranch, Candy, to the newcomer, George. She’s told to have “-the eye-” and is called “-a tart” (28). When George first meets her, he’s brusque and short with his words; the reader can interpret why because in that time period women were considered possessions and men being territorial beings, George knew not to interact much with her if he wanted to stay clean with Curley. After she leaves, George cautions Lennie to not “-even take a look at that bitch” and to “-keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat-trap-” (32). Whenever and wherever she arrives, the atmosphere changes to this hostile, fragile arua making most of the farmhands become tense and treat her like a kid, carefully …show more content…
Lonely and abused, this flirty female would’ve never been happy in the hands of Curley. In conclusion, her death may have been a release for her, but she remains a symbol of women’s roles to the reader, and will show how alone one can feel in an abusive
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