Example essay - DO NOT Plagurise!

Explain how Steinbeck presents the themes of isolation with regards to Curley’s Wife Introduction Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in the 1930s and it reflects a lot of the social issues of the time: the Great Depression, the American Dream, racism and prejudice. Curley’s Wife is presented in connection with the theme of prejudice throughout and is a figure who is both isolated and isolates others. Many of men on the farm are isolated be it through race, physical disability or status, for Curley’s Wife is is generally because of her gender. As well as this element I will also be looking at rights and her relationships in connection with the theme of isolation. Gender Curley’s Wife is the only woman on the farm, which immediately isolates her and marks her out as being different. Candy says “Wife lives over in the boss’s house,” the preposition “over” emphasises how separate she is. The farm is a male environment and the men working there refer to her throughout the novel as “Tart,” “Loo-loo,” “jail-bait,” “tramp,” and many other derogatory terms. The men are presented as misogynistic and sexist. They always use slang of the time to be negative and critical of her. Clearly she is isolated, simply because of her gender and people judge her without getting to know her. This must be an awful environment for her to live in, and it is clear from the out set that she is isolated. Curley’s Wife herself recognises this when she is left on a Saturday night: “They left all the weak ones here.” Women are often referred to as the weaker sex and being left behind while her husband is drinking in town really emphasises her isolation. She also isolates herself in the impractical clothing she wears and they way she is flirtatious and sexually tempting to the men: “She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers” The shoes are presented to the reader as being completely outrageous considering the environment she is living in. Not only do the shoes isolate her, as she would find it hard to access parts of the farm without damaging the shoes, restricting her movement, but symbolise her dream to be an actress and lead a glamourous life, again showing isolation as her ambitions are so different and incomprehensible to those around her. “Her hair hung in little rolled clusters like sausages.” The simile is effective because Steinbeck is comparing her to meat, which is symbolic for the way she is treated by the others, as a piece of property or meat. You could also suggest that the sausages are presented as sexual imagery, a phallic image, emphasising her sexual nature. Many of the men realise that she is dangerous to get involved with, mainly because she is Curley’s property and he is quick tempered and violent. Finally, it shows she’s spent a long time perfecting this hairstyle, which shows the theme of isolation, as she has the time to make herself look so refined, which nobody else does. Relationships I’ve generally at her relationships with the men on the farm. I’m now going to look at specific relationships with characters that are important to her. In the barn, in section four she exclaims: “Why can’t I talk to anyone else? Just let two of the guys get together an you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad.” Then she angrily says: “You’re all scared of each other; that what. Ever’one of you’s scared the rest is going to get something on you.” Steinbeck uses a rhetorical question to get us to think about why she is not allowed any other relationships on the farm, except that with Curley. The personal pro-noun “you” and the repetition of “scared,” which is emotive language, emphasises her point. Curley’s Wife tells Lenny about her relationship with her mother. “Well I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters.” This shows that her relationship has deteriorated over the issue of the letter, and how Curley’s Wife was keen to get away from her old life. We see how personally she takes this supposed betrayal in how she uses negative language: wasn’t, couldn’t, no place. I think that the reader doesn’t feel sympathy for her here as she has mistrusted her mother, leading her to the situation in the novel. Her relationship with Curley is also isolating and restricting, but for different reasons. When provoked she says: The girl flared up “Sure I’ve gotta husban’. You all see him swell guy, aint he? Spends all hi time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t like and he don’t like nobody.” The rhetorical question makes not only the characters reflect on Curely’s nature, but also the reader. Steinbeck emphasises the masculine nature of Curley in this quote by repeating the male pronoun. We feel sympathy for her considering the husband she has. When she is killed Curely’s reaction is: “I know who done it.” He cried. “I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son- of- a- bitch myself.” This shows that he is more interested in revenge than in her and his emotions for her, highlighting their dysfunctional relationship. She doesn’t have love from her husband which leads her to seek attention from everyone else. George says: “Married two weeks and got the eye?” which suprises us as a reader to know they’ve only been married such a short time, but that there is not as close as it should be. The use slang here is fitting as Curley’s Wife likes to look at the men, but also enjoys their attention on her. Even though Curley’s Wife is isolated, we paradoxically see her isolating others during the novel. In section four she is forced by herself and her own desperate nature to join the remaining men. “Ever’body out doin’ som’pin. Ever’-body! An’ what am I doin? Standin’ her talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs, a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep- an’ likin it because they ain’t nobody else.” The language is very emotive, showing how she feel victimised (her repetition of Ever’body and the use of the exclamation mark) but also how she isolates the others by using derogatory terms to address Crooks, Lenny and Candy. The tone is aggressive, but in contrast, the last line shows how she has to “like“ the situation because there is nobody else for her. During the conversation she takes every opportunity to display her power over the others. This seems to be to assure herself she is still important and necessary. She displays true bully tactics. “Well, you keep your place, then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” It is ironic that she tells Crooks to “keep your place” as she is trying break free from her place as a woman in this society. Also, it is quite clear that she is threatening him, isolating him, but also isolating herself against having friends on the farm. Rights As a woman Curley’s wife has very few rights. For a start, and very significantly, she has no name, which illustrates her lack of identity. She only exists in relation to Curley and is seen as belonging to him. This emphasises her isolation as it shows she is not important. In the novel, we don’t see any other women, but we are told about some, generally through a male perception. They fall into three categories: Victims, sexual objects, maternal. Clearly Curley’s Wife is victim and sexual object, while someone like Aunt Clara is maternal. The closest comparison between Curley’s Wife is with the women who run the brothel. Whit says about the local bordello that “If a guy don’t want a flop, why he can just set in the chairs and have a couple or three shots and pass the time of day.” In this quote we see how the men are used to having women at their pleasure and don’t feel hurried into it. Whit is almost more focused on the quality of the chairs than he is on the women. Curley’s Wife is seen in a similar way, but as I mentioned, she is very much seen as the propert of Curley. Most men on the farm have their own version of an American Dream. The most obvious of those is George and Lennie’s dream of living off the “fat of the land,” which Candy and Crooks also share in to different degrees. With Curley’s Wife her dream is of being “in the movies. Says I was a natural.” This again shows isolation as not only is her dream of being a star and celebrity on her own, it also illustrates her isolation as it never happens and the man is just using her. Conclusion To sum up, Steinbeck presents isolation in regards to Curley’s Wife in a very effective way. The reader does feel for her in places, especially towards the end of the novel when we find out her background and why she is so isolated. At the beginning we just see her how she is presented through the men’s eyes. They don’t take the time to understand her, and so it’s no wonder that they treat her in the way they do. Steinbeck shows us the reality of women’s role in the 1930s and the lack of opportunities for them, and how these women are isolated from the men but often each other.