Curleys Wife Character Explained Flashcards
How is curleys wife introduced
‘You seen that glove on his left hand’
‘Yeah I seen it’
‘Well that’s a glove fella Vaseline’
‘Vaseline? What the hell for?
‘Well I tell ya what - Curley says he’s keepin that hand soft for his wife’
She is sexually objectified and her husband is talking about her behind her back.
What is candy’s opinion on Curley’s wife
‘Married two weeks and got the eye?’
‘I think Curley’s married… a tart’
She’s is introduced as being flirtatious and equally immoral but this is candy’s opinion. Is it necessarily fair?
What is john Steinbeck trying to say about the treatment of women in the 1930s
Tough time for woman
Post WW1 - American boom
Fashion - flappers(1920s)
1929-wall street crash - unemployment 25% loads out of jobs
Lots of people in poverty
More woman than men lost jobs
Curleys wife wanted to be in the movies, Hollywood but dream is crushed as she now lives on a ranch with no other girls and a husband she doesn’t like.
How does the quote ‘both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine….(finish off quote)
In the doorway was cut off’. Creates sense of foreboding
Foreshadows the negative impact she will have on George and Lennie.
How is the colour red used to describe Curley’s wife
‘Her fingernails were red’
‘Red mules’
‘Red ostrich feathers’
Flirtatious and sexual desire, danger and warning.
John Steinbeck calls her ‘a girl’ shows her innocent, young and inexperienced.
Does taking care of her appearance = seduction? Quite sexist to assume her flirtatious manor, as she could do that for her own self pleasing
Analyse the quote ‘ she put her hands behind her back and leaned against…(finish quotation)
The door frame so that her body was thrown forward’
She’s showing off her body.
Does being flirtatious = evil? Does she deserve all the insults dished out to her
How is Curley’s wife referred to as by the other ranch workers
‘Tramp’
‘Tart’
‘I have never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her’
‘She’s a rat trap if I ever seen one’
Sense of entrapment
Do the men have no self control? If the ranch workers do anything with Curley’s wife that is her fault? Sexual assumption that she is trying to get them in trouble.
What is slim and Curley’s wife relationship like
‘Hi good lookin’ said Curley’s wife
‘I’m trying to find Curley, slim.’ Said Curley’s wife
‘Well you ain’t trying very hard. I seen him goin in your house’ said Slim.’
She was suddenly apprehensive.’bye boys sge called into the bunk house and she hurried away.’
Double standards as men can flirt but women can’t highlights inequality amongst women.
As she feels apprehensive we can infer Curley doesn’t treat her very well and how she is treated like a house wife even though she is young and aspires to be more
Is she flirtatious or lonely. Or both
‘Every time the guys is around she shows up. She’s lookin for Curley, or she thought she left somethin layin around and she’s lookin for it. Seems like she can’t keep away from guys.’
There are no women on the ranch so she can only speak to guys. Almost as if she can’t do anything right.
The men starting talking about going to old Susy’s. Which is a brothel. Whit says ‘well a guy got to have fun sometime’.
Steinbeck further commenting on the double standards for men and women in society as Curley’s wife is expected to stay at home and whilst the men can go out
How does Curley’s wife express her loneliness to Lennie at the end
‘Well I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think i don’t like to talk to somedoby ever once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house all the time?’
I get lonely, she said. You can talk to people, but I can’t to nobody but Curley’s. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody.’
John stienbeck makes us questions in the novella up until now
How can curleys wife be seen as powerful
Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. ‘I had enough’ he said coldly. You got no right comin in a coloured man’s room… im gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more’
‘Well you keep your pace then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’
Curley’s wife weaponises her white womanhood here. She may be powerless most of the time, but she knows she has more power than crooks.
Why was Curley’s wife dream impossible
‘Nother time i met a guy an he was in pitchers. Went out to the riverside dance palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says i was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it… i never got that letter… I always thought my ol lady stole it.’ She said to Lennie
What could stienbeck be saying here about women in the 1930s?
Was this just a guy using this to chat her up.
How is Curley’s wife portrayed at the end after her death by stienbeck
‘She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet an young. Now her rouged checks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly.’
What do you think john stienbeck was saying about Curley’s wife here?
All flirtatious connations disappear after her death. She is just young and pretty girl who has been killed, and is not proportionate to the fact she has been killed by Lennie
