Of Mice and Men: Curley's Wife

Curley’s Wife

Dreams

·         Lost potential – she could have been a Hollywood star.

·         Every character had a dream, because none of them were achieved it resulted in a loss of hope

·         Chance of stardom was taken from her mother who felt she was too young

·         Takes every chance she can to talk about her lost dream

·         Her shattered dream of being an actress caused her to rush into her marriage with Curley

·         Forced to realise the reality that running away from your problems usually isn't the best course of action.

Identity

·         No name

·         "Curley's Wife" demonstrates that she is Curley's property 

·         She's not an actual person, more so an 'object'

·         Microcosmic of women and their roles in 1930's America - links to stereotypes

·         Only woman on the ranch

Appearance

·         Steinbeck’s introduction of her builds misconceptions - "full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up" - he deliberately made us think that she was a "tart"

·         Curley's Wife teaches us not to judge a book by its cover

·         Ranch hands refer to her as a "floozy", "tramp", "*****"

·         C…