Curley’s Wife “Of Mice and Men”

In Of Mice and Men, character symbolism lets the reader see what feel was like in the 1930s. Many of the characters portray a certain person that could read been living in the 1930s. This book is about the adventures of cardinal men, George Milton and the mentally disabled Lennie Small.They were migrant workers who had to search for work during the Great Depression. You see the friendship between the two men, and how they care for each other and try to protect each other. Author John Steinbeck does a great ancestry of expressing character symbolism in the story.He shows how prat then, the American dream was extremely hard to accomplish because of The Great Depression, and unequal rights towards women and the mentally different. Curleys wife symbolizes how women were do by in the 1930s. In the 1930s women were treated as objects.They had no rights or freedom. It was impossible for women to accomplish the American dream, because woman were property of a man, giving them no indepe ndence to be something other than a housewife.My first example on how Curleys wife was treated as an object is simply in her name, she doesnt establish sensation. In the story Curleys wife is addressed as Curleys wife. You never find out her name. This gave her and all women a persona of worthlessness, that they were just put on the earth to be mistreated housewives and not have anywhere close to the same opportunities as men. Since women didnt have many opportunities besides prostitution, Curleys wife didnt have much of an exciting life. When her husband Curley was not around she would get lonely.In this quote, Curleys wife expresses her loneliness, I get lonely, she said you can talk to people, but I cant talk to nobody but Curley, else he gets mad. Howd you like not to talk to nobody? (Steinbeck 87) Curleys wife says this quote when all the men went to town, including her husband.It shows that she spends all her beat alone, in her house as the men work in the fields. She is a lso not allowed to talk to anyone but her husband who spends all of this time in the fields, so she feels like she is living alone all her life.Many people dreamed for the American dream, especially Curleys wife. Curleys wife dreamed of being a extremely paid actress. In this quote Curleys wife is expressing her dream of being an actress,Coulda been in the movies, an had nice clothes An I coulda sat in them big hotels, an had pitchers took of me.When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an spoke in the radio, an it wouldnta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. Because this guys says I was a natural. (Steinbeck 88) Here she is dreaming of a better life than the one she has now.But because of the time period it was very hard for women to accomplish their dreams let alone be allowed to have them. In Of Mice and Men, character symbolism lets the reader see what life was like in the 1930s. Curleys wife symbolized the level of equality that women had in the time perio d that took place in the story.Women were property and objects. Steinbeck does a great job of symbolism of women through Curleys wife. He shows how back then, the American dream was extremely hard to accomplish because of The Great Depression, and unequal rights towards women and the mentally different.