Of Mice and Men characters - Curley's Wife

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  • Created by: Romilly
  • Created on: 29-12-12 10:16

Curley's Wife

  • In the novel Curley's Wife is never given a proper name. This symbolises her postion in society as a women, it shows us that she is so low that she doesn't even deserve a name. The apostrophe used is possessive, showing that the ranch workers regard her as Curley's property. This relates to mens attitudes of women in the 1930's, once they were married the husband owned the wife.
  • When we first hear about Curley's Wife is through Candy, he has an extremley low opinion of her and doesn't conceal this. "a tart" this statement reflects the little respect that the ranch workers all share about her.
  • Steinbeck first describes her and foreshadows that she is the cause of the downfall of Lennie and George's dream. "the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there" the blocked sunlight is a metaphor of the failure of the dream.
  • When first describing her appearence Steinbeck focuses on the colour red. "She had full rouged lips... Her fingernails were red... She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers." Red represents danger, passion, blood and a warning. Steinbeck is showing her as a dangerous figure who will cause harm to Lennie and

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