OMAM - Curley's Wife focus

Explore the ways one or two minor characters are presented in Of Mice and Men Characters are presented in two main ways in Of Mice and Men: through Steinbeck’s narrative and through other character’s comments and conversations. This allows the reader to view characters in different ways: through Steinbeck’s narrative, the reader can form more of their own opinion, whereas we are given a more biased perspective when detail is offered through other character’s conversations. It is notable that the majority of Curley’s Wife’s presentation is through other character’s comments and Crooks’ presentation comes from a combination of narrative and his own comments in chapter 4. Curley’s Wife is first presented to the reader through Candy’s comments. He tells George, after speking negatively about Curley, “Wait til you see Curley’s wife”, he then goes on to tell us she is “Purty…but” and “she’s got the eye”, summing up moments later that “I think Curley married… a tart”. The effect of this is that the reader immediately things negatively of her, before she has even entered the novella, especially as we are told of Curley’s violent nature and George warns Lennie to stay away from him, reminding him where he can hide if things, inevitably, go bad. The reader immediately associates Curley and his wife as negative characters. Steinbeck’s narrator outlines Curley’s Wife in chapter 2, moments after Candy’s biased and negative comments, through her physical description when we are told: “Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. she had full rouged lips…heavily made up. Her fingernails were red”. The fact she is presented as such, following on from Candy’s words, creates a negative impression on the reader – she has cut off the light and seems to have come uninvited. Added to this is her appearance in red, a colour associated with sex and promiscuity in women. It reinforces the idea that she is a tart and the reader automatically has a negative view of her. The reader’s opinion only changes when Steinbeck deliberately tries to create sympathy for her in Chapter 5 before she is killed, by letting us hear her life story and how badly she has been treated, to ensure the reader is satisfied that Lennie must be punished and his death is acceptable. That presentation of Curley’s Wife changes because we hear her speak, honestly, in her own words. The language is childlike and simplistic and we realise how sad and lonely her life is. She believes that she could have been a movie star because someone told her that and she lived her life in that belief – it shows her lack of education. We see how sad and lonely she is when she says “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughtt’n to. I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella”. The effect on the reader is to realise that maybe she is misunderstood. Perhaps her attention seeking, viewed so negatively by Candy and the others, is actually a way to stem her loneliness. A similar trait is seen when Crooks speaks at length to Lennie in his room in Chapter 4. It is important that Steinbeck changes her presentation at this point, to allow the plot change to occur – the reader needs to be satisfied that Lennie must be punished to allow the ending to work – we then view George as doing the right thing, putting Lennie out of his misery, rather than killing him.

Exploring Lam's use of Language

P: Lam has a lively and enthusiastic style of presenting. In contrast to the other chefs she is the most animated in her tone. This really engages us as an audience and keeps our attention. Q: You can see it’s not rahahahahaa like firecrackers its cook a gentle cook a bing a bing a bing very very busy. E: In this quote Lam uses onomatopoeic-sounding phrases to describe the oil cooking the food. Her simile helps us picture what she is seeing in the pan, which is useful as the camera doesn’t pick this up. She also uses a lot of repetition to reinforce her point, the pan is ’very very’ busy. Her pace is quite rapid and so the repetition also helps the audience to keep up with the key points.

Spoken Language Study - Extra Transcript!

Nancy Lam cooks Prawns and French Beans Hi I’m Nancy Lam, I’m going to cook (2) Prawns, French Beans and Coconut – imagine the taste! Ahhh! This is my fresh prawns shelled and de-vein you must de-vein your prawns. Huh, this is what’s called healthy veg (.) VEG (.) French beans delicious (.) blood chah is one of our pastes make with prawns but it’s – uh – uh I’m not telling you it smells funny but it tastes THE BEST! You - er – no alternative. This is gangan and this is my red and green chilli. And my petitie petite ah red onion my petite petitie red onion create the taste of it. And my coconut. Don’t put too much if you think it’s unhealthy. Put a bit more if you want it you want it more richer (.) tastier. You tell me I’m a good cook. Tell me and you see what you get. Mmmmmmwah! Hahaha. You catching me aren’t you? Montage of chopping. Fill your frying pan not too hot not too cold just heat enough for the oil cos this is not a stir fry (2) this is just a – a it’s almost like a stew it’s almost like a ere er umm what you call it? Er eree a stew er er a stir fry with a sauce. Your chillies your onions. And you can smell. You can see it’s not rahahahahaa like firecrackers its cook a gentle cook a bing a bing a bing very very busy. And what you do, you stir it in. Oh I wish you can smell, I really really wish you can smell. Now you can turn the fire a bit higher. You know why?

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.

Curley's Wife - Controlled Assessment

'Explore the ways a central character is presented and developed' Curley's Wife • Explain what she looks like and how this initial portrait gives us an insight into her character • What do we learn about her hopes and dreams? • How does she convey the theme of loneliness and isolation? • How does she convey the theme of prejudice both as victim and aggressor? • What is your opinion of her - are you sympathetic of her by the end of the novel? • Compare her with other women mentioned in the book - what is Steinbeck indicating about the role of women in 1930s America? • No rights / sexism – where do we see this in the novel? • Lack of identity • Isolated through relationships and also through her sexuality / femininity

DIY - Curley's Wife

P. Q. ‘Married two weeks and got the eye.’ E. The key word here is ‘eye,’ which is a reference to the expression ‘a roving eye.’ This means that she is already looking for something better. Other connotations to eye are…. Early on in their relationship, this doesn’t bode well for the newlyweds. The reason that George says this is…

Two PQEs on Curley's Wife

P. After we see CW feeling frustrated, she suddenly takes out this anger on Crooks. As a black man, he is socially the lowest person in the stable, lower even than her, due to his skin colour. Q. ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ E. Steinbeck allows CW a moment of fire and anger. The repetition of ‘you’ and ‘your’ personal pro-nouns emphasise how she doesn’t view Crooks in the collective of their gathering, but instead she sets him apart. She reinforces this with the pejorative slang ‘Nigger,’ which is shocking today, but would have been perfectly acceptable at the time – although not for Crooks. She says ‘it ain’t even funny’ as if to suggest she would gain some amusement from doing this, for kicks. This hints at a cruel streak from CW. Even though she has felt the isolation of the men on the farm, she ironically decides to divide even further and to reinforce the isolation by dividing with gender and colour. P. In the stable scene, CW is presented as being frustrated by her domestic situation. Q. “Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he?” E. Steinbeck uses a rhetorical question to allow both the characters and the reader an opportunity to reflect on this. By using ‘swell’ she is being ironic and put next to the rhetorical question we get a sense of the sarcasm with which this would have been delivered. We do / do not feel sorry for her and are unsympathetic like the characters / we are sympathetic towards her unlike the characters.