What Do We Learn About How Women Are Viewed in the 1930's, Through the Portrayal of Curley's Wife?

What do we learn about how women are viewed in the 1930’s, through the portrayal of Curley’s wife?

Of mice and men was published in 1937, the novel portrays and characterizes the era of that period in which Steinbeck lived and grew up in.

The First World War and women suffragette movement saw the emerging freedom of women from the traditional past. The First World War also meant that women were able to have a job, have an income, and become independent than in the past. After the war had ended in 1918, everybody wanted to have a good time and Curley’s wife didn’t want to be a traditional woman, cooking and cleaning, she wanted to do something with her life. She believed she could have been a Hollywood movie star because an actor told her he would write to her about joining their show, but she never realised that this was just a chat-up line; he was never really interested in her for talent. This shows us that she is a naive girl.

Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife is the only female character that has a speaking role. Aunt Clara and a prostitute also called Clara are mentioned. Aunt Clara is seen as Lennie’s carer and a housewife, whereas the other female character Clara is a prostitute. Near the conclusion of the book Lennie has a vision Aunt Clara, who has come to tell him off for the bad thing he has done, she is described as a ‘little fat old women...and she was starched and clean.’ This shows her Steinbeck did this on purpose to show the two different types of women in those times. This also shows that women weren’t seen as important as men because the main female character isn’t even given a name, it’s just ‘Curley’s wife’, so she is seen as a possession of her husband.

We don’t meet Curley’s Wife straight away, we first hear about her when Candy tells George and Lennie , ‘I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jailbait worse than her. You leave her be’. Candy also explains that she and Curley have only been married a few weeks and she already has an eye on the other men on the ranch. It gives us the impression that she is danger. It is significant we hear about her through men because its shows how men view women of that time. She isn’t given a name she is just seen as ‘Curley’s wife’, this fits in with her dream because if she was famous she would have been given a name, she would have been somebody.

We meet Curley’s wife when she comes after Candy has been talking about her. She came into the bunk house and posed in the door way. We see this through the quote ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the doorway, so that her body was thrown backwards’. She is trying to get attention from Lennie and George. We also see that she is a bit of a tart as it says she had