Curley’s Wife Essay

The character of Curleys unite char is one of the intimately signifi locoweedt characters in the book as she is fall ined to the key themes of privacy and dreams, which ultimately leads to both her death and Lennies death. Steinbeck roles the character of Curleys wife as a microcosm for the prejudice that faced all wo manpower in 1930s America. Like most of the main characters in the novel, Curleys wife is importantly related to the theme of dreams. Her role in this theme is slightly more(prenominal) important than some others, however, because of her position as the only female character on the farm.The fact that she is the only woman makes her opinions and actions confrontative of all women living in the Great American Depression. Coulda been in the movies, an had nice turn- all them nice clothes worry they wear. An I coulda sat in them big hotels, an had pitchers took of me. Here, we earn how Curleys married woman, despite not having a public figure, has dreams and mum relies on those dreams as a way of escaping the loneliness in the farm.Curleys Wife is a stump of many other women in 1930s America who turned to men as a result of failed dreams, and chose to take the easy route sooner than be crushed by Americas cruel notioning of women. Curleys Wife is very significant to the ending of the novel as her death is the downfall of George, Lennie and Candys united dream. Without this death, George, Lennie and Candy may still have gone on to live their shared dream, unless because of it George had to kill Lennie.The significance of Curleys Wife is ironically also shown threw the insignificance with which the workers in the novel treat her. Within her very first introduction, Steinbeck offers a glance of her role as the promiscuous troublemaker and the way in which the other characters respond to this. George, in particular, illustrates how others judge or misconceive her repairly because of her sexual activity Jesus what a tramp, so thats what Curley picks for a wife. Here, Steinbeck uses George to represent the male population of America and their attitude to women in the 1930s.The character of Curleys Wife is particularly significant in this microcosm as she conveys the insignificance of women and their reliance on men to just pick and drop them on their own accord. The carelessness with which Curleys Wife is treated continues through to the very lowest positions in the farms hierarchy. Despite existence the daughter-in-law of the boss, Curleys Wife still suffers abuse from George, Candy and even Lennie who often refer to her as jail-bait and a tart. These derogatory statements illustrate how Curleys Wife is make to feel worthless solely because of her gender.Curleys Wife is significant as she presents the disinclined attitude of most men in 1930s America who were scare to treat women with respect for fear of evoking conflict and losing their job, something so hard to tote up by in the harsh economic times. St einbeck uses the character of Curleys Wife to convey her dysfunctional marriage, something that was common in 1930s America. Curley disrespects his wife and she is unendingly the source of his objectification. This is most evident through her name Curleys Wife which clearly conveys the hold and possessive nature that Curley has over her.Steinbecks use of withholding information here, also suggests that she is not deserving of her own name and highlights her inferior position on the farm. I dont like Curley. He aint a nice fella. Here Steinbeck shows how Curleys Wife did not marry for love and demonstrates a common spot in America where women often used their sexuality to operate them married for stabilisation during the Great Depression. Curleys Wife is also a symbolization of the mistreatment of women. Curley says hes keeping that hand soft for his wife.Here, we see how the other characters on the farm regard Curleys wife as a mere sex object solely because of her gender and h er dependency on her husband. This serves as a microcosm for 1930s America, as the general consensus was that the sole purpose of women was to meet the needs of their husbands. A final way in which Curleys Wife is significant in the novel is through her link to the theme of loneliness. Curleys Wife is one of the loneliest characters in the novel, which is overlooked at first but becomes more apparent as the novel continues. why cant I talk to you?I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. Curleys Wife is incessantly rejected by her husband and to combat this she tries her best to attract the maintenance of the workers. She does this by going to extremes with her physical appearance She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. This shows her desperation to be noticed, which is understandable given the cruel judgement and abridge with which she and many other American women were faced. The loneliness of Curleys Wife and her child-like assay for atten tion was eventually the death of her.In her happiness at being noticed for once, Curleys Wife misjudged Lennies capabilities, which was what ultimately led to her unavoidable death. Curleys Wife represents the lonely people in America and in the world whose cry for attention turns out to be their downfall. In end Curleys Wife is extremely significant to the novel and serves as a symbol for prejudice and objectification in 1930s America. With the help of this character Steinbeck can clearly illustrate some of the novels key themes of loneliness, dreams and relationships from the perspective of the only woman in this novel.