Curley Wife free essay sample

Candy’s gossip of her would not fully allow George and Lennie to make up their own minds. In comparison with the previous paragraph, when Candy expresses his opinion of Curley’s Wife, we see from her first appearance that he was right about her looks and personality. Immediately as she arrives, she comes up with the excuse that she is ‘’ looking for Curley’’, but it is obvious that she wasn’t there just for that as when told his not there she changes the subject. ‘’you’re the new fellas that just come, ain’t ya? ’’. This questioned is asked to get a response to form a conversation from George and Lennie. This implies that she is lonely and that she needs someone to talk to – due to Curley ignoring her. This demonstrates that she wanted to speak with George and Lennie, as she quickly moved away from the subject of finding Curley. We will write a custom essay sample on Curley Wife or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We also see that her body posture is deliberately laid back against the door, ‘’ so her body was thrown forward’’. The writer uses the verb ‘’thrown’’ to show that it is an unnatural movement and it is done forcefully. This suggests that she knows by doing this will be admired by the men, and she will get attention from it. This makes me have no sympathy for her because she is causing her own problems by acting flirtatious in front of the men. I think that she also needs to sort out her marriage to get respect from the men. In addition when Curley’s wife is in crook’s room she is presented as a menace, a threatening and violent figure. Like a predator she seems to draw closer to her chosen prey in this case cooks – ‘’ she turned on him, she closed on him’’. Her behavior toward the men starts to be dominant, knowing she has superior control over them – ‘’they left all the weak ones here’’. Steinbeck uses the adjective ‘’weak’’ to emphasize on the fact that she takes the advantage against them even though she is ‘’weak’’ herself. This is evident later on in the section in the way Curley’s wife dominates the scene and renders crooks meek and powerless. Her language towards them is packed with threats as she repeats ‘’you know what I can do to you’’. This also suggests that they have no power or authority at all and that they are defenseless. She is also known and presented as a racist – ‘’well you keep you trap shut nigger’’. This reflects the society they were in at the time as she is influenced to be a racist. This makes me have no sympathy for her because she is meant to try to interact with them because they all similar but instead she uses her slight authority against them. Throughout the novel there are indications that she is victim rather than a ‘tart’ or ‘flirt’. The reader learns that she dreamt of being in films but it was never going to happen. As she opens up to Lennie she says that she is not happy and still plans to follow her dreams, ‘’ I could ‘a made something of myself. ’ She still goes on to say and confess that she doesn’t like Curley and that she is not getting enough attention from him. She tries to make Lennie feel sorry for her and has clearly kept her feelings about her marriage hidden for long time before she opens up to Lennie. ‘’I don’t like Curley he ain’t a nice fella. ’’ She takes the chance to be able to express herself to someone who will listen. This makes me feel sympathy for her because it makes me understand deeply what she has been through for a short amount of time and why seeks for attention desperately. Another time I feel sympathy for her is when she dies because she is described ‘simple and pretty’’. This reminds the reader that she still had many years to live, and all of the pain she has been through for a short amount of time. However, I don’t feel sympathy for her when Steinbeck says that ‘’her reddened lips made her seem alive’’, which reminds the reader that she lived most of her life trying to impress men, to get attention, and it also signifies the importance of it to her. In Conclusion I feel that Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife in a negative manner and makes sure the reader believes that she is a very flirtatious and a ‘tart’. This also affects how the reader judges Curley’s wife because of all of the men’s dialogue and sexist opinion’s, which makes us readers then think that she is a ‘tart’ and a ‘floozy’. On the other hand I believe that towards the end of the novel Steinbeck shows us readers that Curley’s wife was just a young innocent woman as she is described ‘sweet and young’- this reminds the reader of her short life and the suffering she had been through.