Curley’s Wife Quotes Flashcards
(36 cards)
Dreams:
Her extravagant clothing suggests that she’s still desperately clinging to/living out her dream.
“She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.”
Dreams:
Silly description depicts her clinging to her dream as poignant/pathetic.
“Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.”
“…she made a small grand gesture with her arm and hand to show that she could act.”
Dreams:
She remains optimistic/defiant about the possibility of her dream coming true.
‘“I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” She said darkly, “Maybe I will yet.”’
Dreams:
Blames the failure of her dream on her mother.
‘“I never got that letter,” she said. “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.”’
Dreams:
Another victim of a failed dream, imagining what her life could have been.
“Coulda been in the movies… I coulda sat in them big hotels… When they had them previews I coulda went to them”
Prejudice:
Candy immediately begins to spread gossip about her to the new workers.
“Well—she got the eye…I seen her give Slim the eye…I seen her give Carlson the eye.”
Prejudice:
George makes the crude assumption that she would sexually sell herself.
“Bet she’d clear out for twenty bucks.”
Prejudice:
She is subject to a series of misogynistic insults and degrading comments.
“”Jesus, what a tramp””
“”Don’t you even take a look at that bitch.””
“”I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.””
“”…she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one.””
Prejudice:
Candy cruelly reminds Curley’s Wife about her loneliness.
“…we got fren’s, that’s what we got.”
Prejudice:
Candy is blinded by his misogynistic prejudice of Curley’s Wife that he can’t recognise that she is lonely, just like him.
“We ain’t got nothing to say to you at all… So maybe you better jus’ scatter along now”
“Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live.”
Loneliness:
She tries to entice the men with her physical appearance, attempting to draw them into a conversation.
“She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up.”
“…leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.”
Loneliness:
She is also flirtatious as she tries to appeal to the men.
‘“…I better look some place else,” she said playfully.” “She smiled archly and twitched her body.”’
Loneliness:
Uses the excuse of finding her husband to socialise with the other men.
“I’m lookin’ for Curley… Sometimes Curley’s in here…”
Loneliness:
She is consistently rejected by most of the ranch men who refuse to be drawn in to prolonged conversations with her.
“You’re the new fellas that just come, ain’t ya?” “Yeah.””
“George looked away from her and then back.”
“She looked from one face to another, and they were all closed against her.”
Loneliness:
Slim is the only character who is sociable and conversational with her.
“Hi, Good-lookin’.”
Loneliness:
She is the only woman on the ranch, a place where she has no experience and in which she is completely out of place.
“Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her.”
Loneliness:
She passionately challenges the loneliness she feels and how others ostracise her.
“Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?”
Loneliness:
She tries to encourage empathy on the part of Lennie and persuade him to speak with her.
‘“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”’
Loneliness:
She adapts this strategy, moving on to another conversational path to prolong the interaction.
‘“She changed the subject. “What you got covered up there?”’
Loneliness:
She is desperate for conversation and company, attempting to capitalise on the fact that she (momentarily) has Lennie’s attention.
“…her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away.”
Loneliness:
Lennie lacks the capacity to emotionally engage with Curley’s Wife when she details her suffering.
“Lennie sighed deeply.”
Treatment of others:
She cruelly comments on the insignificance of Lennie, Candy and Crooks.
“”They left all the weak ones here””
“”…a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an’ a dum- dum and a lousy ol’ sheep””
Treatment of others:
She subject Crooks to a vicious verbal attack, threatening to have him killed and suggests that it would be easy because if his race.
‘“Listen, Nigger,” she said. “You know what I
can do to you if you open your trap?”’
‘“Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”’
Treatment of others:
She reminds Candy and Lennie that the other men disregard them.
“Nobody’d listen to you, an’ you know it. Nobody’d listen to you.”
