curley's wife

Question 1

quote to suggest Curly’s wife is used to being perceived as attractive (2)

Answer 1

“she’s purty” (lennie) / “looloo” - attractive (whit)

Question 1

quote to justify Curley’s wife is ‘dangerous’

Answer 1

“the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”

Question 2

quote to justify Curley’s wife is hiding something about her relationship with Curley

Answer 2

“she was suddenly apprehensive” after she heard curly was around.

Question 3

names that the men on the ranch called Curley’s wife (6)

Answer 3

“jail bait”
“kid”
“bitch”
“tramp”
“poison”

Question 4

quote to justify Curley’s wife is hiding something

Answer 4

“she aint concealing anything”

“she was suddenly apprehensive”

Question 5

quote to justify Curley’s wife is Curley’s possession/property

Answer 5

he wants her to stay in the house and to stay away from the men on the farm.
whenever we encounter her in the first half of the novel, he is looking to her to keep track of his possession
“Why’n’t you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?” - Carlson

Question 6

quote to justify Curley’s wife is a temptress (5)

Answer 6

first appearance she makes: “She had full, rouged lips and wide-spread eyes, heavily made up

‘showing her legs’

‘she leaned against the door frame’

“nobody can blame a person for lookin”

“she got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody”

Question 7

why is Curley’s wife often perceived as an antagonist when we first meet her?

Answer 7

she is usually objectified, or regarded as an object, not a person.

Question 8

Candy’s biased opinion pressents Curley’s wife as PROMISCUOUS and LICENTIOUS on first impression

Answer 8

“tart”
““she got they eye”

Question 9

Curley’s wife is seductive

Answer 9

“her body was thrown forward”
-posture displays her curves

“rouged lips”
-draw attention to a sensual part of her body

Question 10

CONTEXT: How would Curley’s wife’s behavior have a bad reflection on curley

Answer 10

wifes were to be domesticated and entirely loyal. Her behaviour would make him look like he can’t control his wife

Question 11

Curleys wife’s beauty is dangerous

Answer 11

“Jail bait”

• femme fetale stock character - a woman whos beauty will be used to lure men into disastrous situations
• parallels with Eve: symbol of temtation / downfall of mankind

Question 12

What peice of information tells usd that Curley’s wife is just innocently looking at the men on the ranch?

Answer 12

She is the only woman in the ranch; “she got the eye”; who else is she supposed to look at?

Question 13

CONTEXT: why might Curley’s wife care so much for her appearance

Answer 13

patriarchal society - encouages the notion that a womans worth comes from her appearance

• hollywood female stars were heavily made up

Question 14

What quote excuses the men for their behaviour by assuming that they have no control over their sexual urges

Answer 14

“Jail bait”
-DEROGATORY term - blames her for being beautiful and therefore being a temtation

Question 15

How are Curley’s wife’s actions EROTICIZED when she goes to Crooks room

Answer 15

her lips were “slightly parted” and she “breathed strongly”
-Steinbeck enphasises Curley’s wifes appearance more than any other character

Question 16

CONTEXT: men only cares for things that benefited them

Answer 16

the men gave more respect to the girls in the local brothel; even her husband chooses to spend the night with the prostitutes

Question 17

Curley’s wife is isolated on a ranch full of men

Answer 17

“I’m lookin’ for Curley”
-she has nothing to do if she isn’t with her husband

Question 18

Why couldn’t Curley’s wife get a job?

Answer 18

Married women in employment were frowned upon since it was like they were taking away a mans job that they needed to provide for their family

Question 19

Curley’s wife is not welcome in the bunkhouse

Answer 19

“looking in”
“She stood still in the doorway”
-symbol of marginalization

Question 20

Curley’s wife reveals her plight: loneliness

Answer 20

“I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonley”
-she’s utterly human and not a two dimensional femme fatale

Question 21

Curley’s wife is Curley’s possession

Answer 21

“Curley’s wife”
-possessive pronoun - lack of identity

Question 22

Men were fixated on dominating females in every aspect

Answer 22

“Why’nt you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?”
-angry over curley’s wife being near then / wearing makeup / speaking to them

Question 23

Curley’s wife knows her weak possition in society

Answer 23

“they left all the weak ones here”
- she belongs to the outcasts

Question 24

Curley’s wife seeks weakness in others

Answer 24

“I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”
-Lennies mental handicap; Candy’s DEBILITATING age; the colour of crooks skin
-Steinbeck enphasises how power grows from weakness in a society in which we have created

Question 25

lack of emotion toward Curley’s wife’s death highlights her lack of worth

Answer 25

“You goddamn tramp… you done it, didn’t you?”

Question 26

Curley’s wifes dream is FUTILE

Answer 26

“Curley’s wife”
- She wants to make a name for herself in the movies even though she is a nameless character

Question 27

Curley’s wife depends on a man to make her dreams come true

Answer 27

“He says i could go with that show”
“He says he was gonna put me in the movies”
-its likley that these men were lying to her in her favour
-weak exploited by the powerful