The Works

Of Mice and Men: Curley's Wife

How does Steinbeck deal with the death of a female character?

Steinbeck uses the silence and the stillness in the barn, to represent death. He shuts out the outside world and focuses in on just the barn, and her silent and still body "it was very quiet in the barn" "clang of pitches shoes...voices of the men...grow more quiet"; the word quiet is repeated to emphasize what had just happened. Before Lennie leaves, everything seems very rushed and very loud, and very sudden, just like when he killed her, by snapping her neck quickly. Then, when he leaves "he crept around...and disappeared." everything seems to slow down, become calmer and decreases into a soundless atmosphere- even Lennie's movement when he left ("crept") was a lot softer, in contrast to what had just happened. Steinbeck smoothly moves from a very shocking and sudden moment, to a very calm and peaceful one.

Steinbeck then compares the way she looks "the meanness...plannings...discontent...ache for attention were all gone from her face" and "pretty...simple...sweet...young" to what it is like outside "the air in the barn was dusky in advance of the outside day." it's like he is showing that the outside of her, was very bright and bold, like the day outside the barn, whereas the inside was nicer, more innocent and reserved, like she really was and how you could see her lying on the ground.

Steinbeck then contrasts her appearance "rouged cheeks and reddened lips made her seem alive" with the actual fact that she is dead. When you are dead, you cannot be alive, but it suggests a metaphor that, she finally found somewhere where she can be herself, be alive and not be judged, in the peaceful place that is death. Suddenly, her true self was shown, even though she had no one to actually show it to, but instead be discovered, in the most awful and saddening way. She finally found her peace, but she cannot live it.

The writer, then changes the pace of the story ever so slightly to move the story on- like we have to move on with our lives after each death- and it's similar to when realisation hits us about what has just happened, at first we're calm about it, then slowly, we realise what had just happened, and it affects us more; Steinbeck shows this to us by writing: "gradually time awakened again and moved sluggishly on.". The barn secludes the moment, in quiet and peacefulness, blocking out the outside world, but then it "awakens" and the outside world comes in, making the moment seem very real "the horses stamped...halter chains clinked...outside, the men's voices became louder and clearer". Also, the fact that the "mens' voices became louder and clearer" suggest the historical context; women were basically seen as beneath men on the 'hierarchical pyramid', so were ignored and discriminated against, and that was very popular in America at the time. The men's voices growing louder and clearer suggest that what they were doing is much more important than the death of the woman. This is also shown, by how Steinbeck focuses in and puts so much detail into her death, but then slowly starts to divert the attention back to the men, which suggests that she is no longer important, when really, death has a big impact on everyone.

Steinbeck then shows how looked down upon she was by the men- "'you oughten to sleep out here,' he said disapprovingly"- this shows us that even though she was doing nothing wrong, just 'sleeping', they didn't want her there because they didn't 'approve' of her.

At the end of page 105, Steinbeck writes "he jumped up and went quickly out of the barn." which increases the pace of the story, and as if what had just happened to Curley's wife had hit the reader's, and the character's, very suddenly and had to be dealt with quickly.

Written in: 2015, 16 y/o