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Curley's Wife Loneliness

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Brown, Ellie Mrs.Famulari English 9 March 8th 2024 Of Mice and Men Analysis Of Mice and Men by John Stienbeck takes place on a ranch during The Great Depression. This book is designed to help the reader comprehend how life was in the 1930’s. Stienbecks Wright forces you to comfort yourself and your prejudices. This incredible piece of literature does this by showing ableism, sexism, and segregation due to racism. Every character in Of Mice and Men faces discrimination. This leads to isolation and loneliness. Although each character is lonely and craves attention, no other character compares to Curley's wife. She is the only woman on the ranch and is by far the loneliest character. Throughout Of Mice and Men, there are many obvious signs of …show more content…

She is not even valued enough to have her own name. She is exclusively referred to as Curley’s wife. ‘“I get lonely’ she said ‘you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody, else Curly gets mad”’ (Steinbeck 87). Curley's wife openly says this to Lennie during their conversation in the barn. She is struggling and is obviously stating that she needs attention. Curley’s wife was lonely because of how other people treated her. All the men on the ranch view her as poison. “‘Don’t you even take a look at that bitch? I don’t care what she says, and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never saw any piece of jailbait worse than her. You leave her be’’’ (Steinbeck, 32). George tells Lennie this immediately after meeting Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch and she is already married. All the men avoid and ignore her so they do not get in trouble with Curley. She is discriminated against because of her gender. Curley’s wife continuously overcompensates in hopes of gaining attention in any way possible. While Candy, Crooks, and Lennie were sitting in the Crooks bunk ‘“looking in was Curley’s wife. Her face was made up. Her lips were slightly parted”’ (Steinbeck, …show more content…

Even Curley. I know where they all went”’ (Steinbeck 77). All of the men at the ranch had gone to a cat house. She is constantly made to feel like she wasn't enough by her husband and ignored by all of the other men. She always tries to look nice to gain any attention possible. Curley’s wife often feels remorse about the life she chose and the life she could have had. “‘Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pictures taken of me. When they had previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke on the radio, an’ it wouldnta cost me a cent cause I was in the pitchure. Because this guy says I was a natural”’ (Stienbeck 89). She had the option to be a movie star and live a glamorous life and be admired by everyone, but she chose to be with Curley. She knew that she would have been loved and had all the attention she wanted and now she has nothing. Curley's wife had no one to talk to; she was alone and treated like poison. No one wanted to see her. She tried as hard as she could but never seemed to be enough for even her husband, so she desperately tried to gain attention wherever she could. Curley’s wife is referred to as jailbait, and she is considered the worst person on the

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