Curley's Wife Flashcards
Candy says ‘she got the eye’
This shows how the men on the ranch view Curley’s Wife as a flirtatious woman especially Candy as he’s a bitter misogynist. However, they don’t know that she is extremely lonely due to the prejudice and misogyny women face in society.
George also says that Curley’s Wife is ‘a tramp’ and ‘jail bait’(metaphor)
George, however, uses misogynistic language to make sure Lennie doesn’t interact with her as they don’t want trouble with Curley. This underlines how lonely women were in society.
Slim calls her ‘good lookin’
Slim is used as Steinbeck’s ideal citizen this is shown as Slim doesn’t say anything nasty about her and instead compliments her.
George says ‘no place for a girl’
This shows how society was patriarchal and misogynistic as men didn’t treat women equally.
Curley’s Wife says ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to you?’
this rhetorical question emphasises how men marginalised women due to the patriarchal society that they were living in. She challenges society’s norms.
She was ‘suddenly apprehensive’
This shows how women in society were meant to stay in their domestic sphere and know their place. This prejudice is what contributes majorly to her loneliness.
However, she says that she’s looking for her husband, but this is just an excuse to socialise with the men on the ranch and leave her domestic sphere, highlighting her extreme loneliness.
Her words ‘tumbled out in passion’
This shows how her loneliness results in her death, highlighting how women couldn’t escape loneliness in that society.
The men ‘close ranks’ when she comes however she lashes out and says ‘listen nigh…’
Backed up with ‘strung up on a tree’
Her use of racial slurs shows the impacts of being prejudiced highlighting how prejudice breeds prejudice and how it destroys the fabric of society.
She says that she ‘coulda been in the movies’
Her death illustrates the death of people’s dreams in society and how it’s all just a cultural myth.
Steinbeck describes her at death as ‘at peace’ and ‘her face was sweet and young’
This visual imagery shows the powerlessness women have in society and how they escape prejudice and misogyny only when she’s dead.
