Curley's Wife

Representation of Women at the time
1. Overly Sexual
  1. Pin-up model
    1. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters,
  2. Promiscious
    1. 'Body was thrown forward,'
  3. Prostitutes
    1. Susy, the owner of the Brothel, has an actual name whereas Curley's Wife doesn't. This implys that she is worth less than a prostitute.
  4. "the temptation of female sexuality in a male-dominated world."
  5. She feels admired when he strokes her hair…unfortunately his uncontrollable strength results in her, and his, death.
2. Possesion
  1. Doesn't have a name
    1. 'Curley's Wife,'
  2. She has no possesions
  3. 'Rat-trap,'
3. Women were only useful for Sex
  1. "Give me a good whore house ever' time."
  2. 'Glove fulla vaseline,'
Her Dream
1. She gave up on it.
  1. "so I married Curley."
2. Her entire moment with Lennie is a moment to be admired and to be loved, like she would have been on screen had she been an actress in "pitchers." It only makes sense that this would be the instant that ends up killing her, a reminder that the pain of failed dreams can be a form of death in its own way.
3. Curley's wife desperately wanted to feel like somebody special.
4. She was dragged away from her dream and can never fufill it since she was killed by Lennie in the barn. She had a dream like everybody has about being noticed. She failed her dream when she had married Curley, even though to her "he ain't a nice fella" and caused her own demise and the complete crushing of her American dream.
Attributes
1. Lonely
  1. "What kinda harm am I doin' to you? Seems like they ain't none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself.
  2. Her lack of identity suggests that she is a lonely character, and insecure as well; she is always seeking company, which ironically makes her unpopular
  3. Like most of the characters in the novel his portrayal of her dream is important to this overall theme as is her relationship with Curley when compared to the relationship of George and Lennie Steinbeck portrays her as a girl who is pretty and wants the attention of men both out of vanity and lonliness
Is she a tart?
1. Notice that, in the barn with Lenny she seems more comfortable because she doesn’t expect Lennie to sexually want her.
2. She is always going into the bunk house where the men live and flirting
3. Tart
  1. Floozy
    1. Rat Trap
4. "Represented as brotherhood of man, a temptress, an Eve, who seduces men away from the meaningful fraternity which keeps them content and fulfilled with their ilk who help them measure the world.
Victim
1. Death causes her facade to drop.
  1. "The sun streaks were high on the wall by now, and the light was growing soft in the barn."
2. Like the ranch-hands, she is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better life.
3. The men on the farm refer to her as a “tramp,” a “tart,” and a “looloo.” Dressed in fancy, feathered red shoes, she represents the temptation of female sexuality in a male-dominated world.
4. She abuses her power of workers.
5. We then know that she is only flirtatious and mean to the men because she is just trying to have bond with someone because Curly has commanded her not to talk to anyone; this made her lonely and bitter.

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Curley's Wife

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	Created by Laura Jade about 10 years ago