Curley's Wife

• Introduction

  • Protest novella
  • Written by John Steinbeck in 1936
  • In the midst of the great depression caused by the wall street crash of 1929 where over $30 billion was lost, $14 billion on one day known as "Black Tuesday"
  • Steinbeck had worked as a manual labourer in the years prior
  • The story follows George and Lennie
  • They meet many characters along their time at the ranch
• Introduction pt 2

  • One of these characters is Curley's wife
  • She is the only female character on the ranch and faces a lot of discrimination
  • She is trapped in a negative and unwanted marriage with Curley that she was forced into like many women of the era
  • In this essay I will be discussing her personality and influence on others
  • As well as including context of the era
• Paragraph 1 - Loneliness

  • "I'm looking for Curley... sometimes Curley's in here" - Curley and his wife are never shown in the same room together which shows there lack of companionship, but she uses looking for him as an excuse to talk to other men
  • "i get lonely... but I cant talk to nobody but Curley" - She tries to provoke empathy to persuade Lennie to talk to her just so she can feel less isolated from the others
  • (Context - We never know her real name only defined by husband - shows unimportance of women in society in 1930s America)
• Paragraph 2 - Treatment of others

  • "Listen here nigger... I can get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint even funny" - She subjects crooks to a vicious verbal attack showing a uncommon exploitment of power from her as crooks if the only one she can posses power over, due to race.
  • (Context - Jim crow laws and lynching)
  • "Don't you worry none" - recognises Lennie's grief over his dead pup and tries to comfort him showing she can be loving and tries to earn trust but it doesn't end well for her.
• Paragraph 3 - Dreams

  • "he says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural" - She naively believed the promises by the men in the movie industry and had her hopes set only for them to be broken when she was married off to Curley
  • "I coulda made something' of myself... maybe I will yet" - Remains optimistic of her dreams coming true but in reality there is no future ahead of her
  • (context - like migrant farmers American dreams never coming true)
• Paragraph 4 - Death

  • "she struggled violently under his hands... her body flopped like a fish" - Pictures her painful and terrifying death at the hands of Lennie right after she was trying to comfort him
  • (context - a catalyst for tragedy)
  • ("I'm gonna shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself" - shows Curley cares more about killing Lennie than mourning his wife, this shows the lack of care in their relationship) - Use if needed for relationship with Curley
  • "she was very pretty and simple" - shows her aster being stripped down to just her body and that without her ache for attention she was just like any other nice girl
• Paragraph 5 - Discrimination/Prejudice

  • "Don't you even take a look at that bitch" - She is subject to many misogynistic comments throughout the novella and is always called names like jailbait, tramp and rattrap.
  • "Bet she'd clear out for twenty bucks" - George makes a crude assumption that she would sexually sell her self showing how badly women were perceived in 1930's America
  • (Context - Increase in women's rights in 1920s introduction of women's vote - onset of GD halted progress so women seen in a more negative way despite Elanor Roosevelt)
• Paragraph 6 - Relationship with Curley (optional)

  • "Sure I gotta husband. you all seen him. Swell guy, ain't he" - Curley's wife speaks sarcastically about Curley do shows her contempt towards her husband
  • "I don't like Curley. He aint a nice fella" - She suffers from an unhappy unfulfilling marriage, but stuck in it as women in this era had very little say in relationships
• Conclusion

  • Curley's wife is one of the least powerful and lonely people in the novella
  • She is subject to lots of discrimination due to being the only female on the ranch
• S - Sometimes - "I'm looking for Curley... sometimes Curley's in here"

  N - Nobody - "I get lonely... but I cant talk to nobody but Curley"

  F - Funny - "Listen here nigger... I can get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint even funny"

  W - Worry - "Don't you worry none"

  M - Movies - "he says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural"

  Y - Yet - "I coulda made something' of myself... maybe I will yet"

  F - Flopped - "Her body flopped like a fish"

  G - Guts - "Imma shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself"

  B - Bitch - "Don't you even take a look at that bitch"

  T - Twenty - "I bet she'd clear out for twenty bucks"

  S - Swell - "Sure I got a husband... He's a swell guy aint he"

  F - Fella - "He aint a nice fella"