1. Is Steinbeck’s portrayal of women fair?
Of Mice and Men
Is Steinbeck’s portrayal of women fair?

2. Who are the women? Curley’s wife Aunt Clara Old Suzy (prostitute)
Clara (prostitute)
Curley’s Wife’s mother

3. Women in the 1930s A harsh time for everyone – Wall Street Crash 1929.
Women not treated as equals.
Portrayed as sexual objects – brothel, Curley’s hand in vaseline.
Expected to stay in the home – not many career openings.

4. Curley’s wife – how she’s seen.
Portrayed as cheap and a flirt.
No name - ‘Curley’s Wife’ - a possession.
Lonely.
Husband visits the brothel.
Seen as a destroyer. ‘Everybody knowed you’d mess things up.’ (Candy)
Jail-bait, tramp, bitch.
Dangerous – George tells how his friend’s in the prison San Quentin because of a ‘tart’.

5. Curley’s Wife – what’s she like?
A pathetic figure.
A victim of loneliness like the others.
Desperate for company.
Trapped in a loveless marriage.
Has a dream to keep her going.
One of the ‘outcasts’ on the ranch.
Discriminated against because she’s a woman.

6. Is she ever happy? When she dreams of being in the ‘pitchers’.
When she’s dead. ‘..the meaness and the plannings and discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.’
It’s as though death is the only way that she can achieve happiness.
She gains a bit of sympathy when she’s dead: ‘Poor bastard,’ he said softly’. Like Aunt Clara, she is ‘cleansed’ when dead.

7. Does anyone care for her?
Not Curley, he visits the brothel even though they’ve only been married for two weeks.
Curley is more interested in revenge for his hand rather than her death.
Slim treats her with gentle respect ‘Hi, good-lookin’.

8. What are we shown through the character of Curley’s Wife?
The way women were regarded – either housewives or sexual objects. The men are not so evenly divided.
Dangerous – able to get you into trouble.
How women were powerless – she is dependant on men for her future.

9. Is Curley’s Wife powerless?
She is one of the vulnerable characters.
However, she has power over Crooks, because he is black: ‘Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’
So she is willing to use what little power she has – do you think she gets a sense of satisfaction from this?
Her only other means of power is her looks.

10. What about the other women?
The brothel owner ‘Old Suzy’ is regarded with some respect.
This may be because of the openness of their trade: ’You give me a good whorehouse every time…..get ever’thing outa his system…and no-one messes’.
Prostitutes offer a service with no commitment – highlights the mistrust.
George possibly sees women as a threat.