Curleys Wife Essay Example for Free

Curleys Wife EssayWhat methods does Steinbeck use to present Curleys wife and the attitudes of other to her? And How Does Steinbeck present attitudes to women in the society in which the novel is set? The novel Of Mice and Men is set in a very patriarchal society, a society in which men dominate women and use them for their own needs. Women, who lived within this society, were not seen equal to men. Steinbeck uses many different language techniques to describe Curleys wife. She plays a complex and misfit character in the novel and is made to pass like a tart as mentioned by George himself.Curley uses her for his own needs and controls her. As Curleys wife walks through the bunk house, the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off, describing the fact that it goes dark, a sign of evil and danger. A very quick sense of foreboding is given and this continues through pop out the text yet, getting stronger. Curleys wife is kept away from the men. A misfire was standing Lo oking in. Curleys wife is standing at the doorway like theres an invisible barrier, preventing her from entering the mens dorm. This is because the men dont want her mixing in with them.They are afraid to reproof to her as it would result in losing their jobs. She is ostracised and excluded from the male fraternity. She knows her beauty is her power, and she uses it to flirt with the ranch hands and impart her husband jealous. She is utterly alone on the ranch, and her husband has seen to it that no one will talk to her without fearing a beating. For this specific reason, Curleys wife uses Im lookin for Curley as a pick up line to get through to the other men even if it means getting a hello. She mentions this twice throughout the text.Once when shes talking to George and another when shes talking to Slim however, the men still keep their distance in fear of Curley. Because of her beauty, Lennies look move down over her body. Lennie finds her attractive and wants to touch her lik e he did to the girl in the red dress. As mentioned in the beginning of the novel, the girl in the red dress was trouble for George and Lennie. This is creates an atmosphere of foreboding. Curley and his wifes relationship isnt very tight so for this reason, Curleys wife tries to desire companionship moreover goes about it the wrong by openly flirting and dressing to impress.She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes. Heavily made up. She covers her face in fill-up and puts on an innocent look however it creates the thought shes seducing in the readers head. As well as this, she uses a coquettish but coy voice, her voice has a nasal, brittle quality. Brittle meaning fragile, proves that she talk the way she does for friendly attention. Not just to gain internal attention. As I have previously mentioned, Curleys wife has a very complex character in which she is, at some points, made to sound naive and at some points very seducing.To back up my point, during mid text, Curleys wife puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. At this point, Curleys wife starts to seduce. She does this because, her pick up line didnt gain much attention from George as he simply replied, he was in here a minute ago, but he went. Curleys wife does so much for someone to talk to her but doesnt go about it the right way. On the other hand, Curleys wife has a lot of importance in the novel. At the beginning of the text, Steinbeck uses the chroma red many times.In this particular piece of text, red isnt just an ordinary colour but has much more depth to. Its repeated in the first paragraph thrice. Her finger nails were redand red mulesred ostrich feathers. Red is mainly associated with Curleys wife who is symbolic to Eve- the effeminate character who, in the biblical story ( the garden of Even) bring sin and death to the society. However, red also represents the anger of a bull, which, relating back to the novel, attract s Lennie similar to the girl in the red dress. It also signifies love, impurity and desire, the type of attention Curleys wife is looking for.Yet, also, red in a traffic light, grasp and look. As I previously mentioned, the novel was set in a patriarchal society. The women had no dignity and no rights to speak up for themselves or make their own decisions. Similarly, Curleys wife is treated with a very low level of respect and is isolated from the male society. She has no possession of her own strike and is classified as a tart. The men dont try to talk to her because of the fear of Curley and the consequences they would face after. Finally, Curleys wife gets worried when she finds out that Curley went back to their house. She was suddenly apprehensive and she scurried away. Curley likes to fight with big men, so if he finds out that his wife was in the bunk house with the big man, hell be sure to pick out a fight once he finds her. To conclude my essay, Curleys wife is treated li ke a no one and has no importance in the eyes of the men. She is treated similar to Candy and Crooks like shes good for nothing and only good to be used as a toy. Steinbeck indirectly mentioned the rights of women and discrimination in this novel through the way Curley treats his wife and the way the men are scared to talk to her.