...Steinbeck, uses characterization of women throughout the piece to represent the social attitudes towards women in the 1930’s, the story's time period. There is only one main, female character in the text, referred to as Curley's wife, who Steinbeck characterizes well throughout the text as an unfitting, flirtatious and irresponsible woman who does not contribute to her household. First, when Curley's wife is being introduced to the antagonists, George and Lennie, at the bunkhouse she is described as very elegant and voluptuous. When Lennie and George look up to see Curley's wife for the first time she wears a “cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little...
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...Explore the way Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as someone we both sympathise with and dislike at times. Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as one we both sympathise and dislike at times by showing both sides of her story to the reader, he illustrates Curley’s wife’s, point of view by revealing her past and why she is married to Curley. He then depicts the other side of her personality by exposing how she is around the ranch workers, and what they think of her. The author also illustrates the life of a typical women in 1930’s America and the little respect they were given. Steinbeck does not make the reader feel one strong emotion for her but various different emotions throughout the novel. Furthermore he constantly foreshadows a coming of an event she will play a major role in by reminding George and Lennie how similar she is to the girl in Weed, who Lennie was falsely accused of raping. The first thing the reader notes when reading about Curley’s wife is the lack of importance she is being given by Steinbeck not mentioning her name, and by referring to her as a possession of Curley ,however this also reflects to 1930’s America, when women weren’t given any importance and were treated with a huge amount of disrespect. They didn’t have much power over the men and were considered ‘useless’. Henceforth Steinbeck may have not given her a name as women were not considered important enough and she may not have deserved a name in this era. This could make the reader feel sympathy...
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...to convey his ideas on powerlessness, friendship, the importance of a dream and the role of women during the Great Depression, in his novel Of Mice and Men. These features influence the reader by creating empathy and sense of inevitability. Techniques such as foreshadowing, symbolism, repetition and allusion help readers make a connection with the characters in the novel. Foreshadowing was used in the novel to show how Lennie would kill Curley’s wife and interfere with achieving the dream that George and Lennie had. Lennie accidentally killing the mice and dog as he patted them showed the strength he has which he is unable to control. This lead readers to predict that when Curley’s wife told him to pat her hair Lennie wouldn’t be able to control himself and would end up ruining the chance of having their dream. Lennie lifting up a girl’s skirt up in Weed foreshadowed that when Lennie met Curley’s wife there would be trouble which George also had doubts about hence why he was trying to protect Lennie whenever Curley’s wife said something to Lennie. The allusion of the poem, To a Mouse by...
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