Of Mice and Men Assessment
Explore how Steinbeck
presents women in the 1930s
through the characters in the
novel
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Assessment Criteria
• 1) Read and understand texts, selecting
material appropriate to purpose
• 2) Develop and sustain interpretations of
writers’ ideas and perspectives
• 3) Explain and evaluate how writers use
linguistic, grammatical and presentational
features to achieve effects and engage and
influence the reader
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The girl in Weed
• We find out about the girl when George loses his
temper with Lennie by the pool. He uses Lennie’s own
words to mock him in quite a cruel way:
• “Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress – jus’ wanted to
pet it like it was a mouse – Well, how the hell did she
know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress?”
The girl is completely innocent of any wrong doing – she
is there as a structural device to put George and Lennie
at the ranch and give a starting point for Lennie’s story.
For the reader, she is used to set up the notion of Lennie
as someone who is potentially dangerous around women.
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Curley’s wife
Her lack of a name:
• Reinforces the view of her as Curley’s possession.
• Confirms stereotype of male dominance and ownership.
• Gives her a lack of individuality, makes her less of a person
in her own right – she bitterly resents this.
• She is a mixture of negative female traits – a seductress, a
temptress, a siren, a chattel, a sex-object, a piece of jailbait.
*If you comment on any of these things you will need to
expand them further and think about what they mean n the
text and provide some evidence. Also consider what Steinbeck
is saying about women at the time – were they forced in to
these roles?
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Soledad
• The name Soledad means ‘our Lady of
loneliness’ in Spanish.
This can be an obvious link to Curley’s wife and
her status on the ranch.
Incidental, minor point in your essay.
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An introduction to her
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She isn’t a fully formed character in the way a reader might expect in a longer novel, she is
more of a representation of various female characteristics.
She appears flirtatious and yet, at the same time very young, vulnerable and out of her
depth.
It is clear from the comments made about her by characters such as Candy that the ranch
hands all view her as dangerous and predatory – someone who could easily lose them their
jobs.
Steinbeck is ambiguous in his writing about her flirtations – it is never clear just how serious
she is or how far she would go.
The only man unperturbed by her advances is Slim, who takes it all in his stride and is not at
all flustered by her.
She is desperate for attention and company – everything about her screams ‘look at me!’
She has her dreams, just like some of the men – her dreams seem to be out of reach but,
ultimately, no more so than the men dreaming of getting their own place – is Steinbeck
saying that all dreams were futile in this tome of economic hardship?
She is very young and in a completely alien world – she’s from the town – has no experience
on a ranch and doesn’t know how to approach this male dominated world.
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Candy’s view of Curley’s wife
(conversation with George)
“Wait till you see Curley’s wife.”
“Purty? he asked casually.”
“Yeah. Purty…but…”
“But what?”
“Well – she got the eye.”
“Yeah? Married two weeks and got the eye?”
Candy leads the criticism of her and enjoys imparting his
snippets of gossip and opinions. The reader is led to support
Candy’s ideas as he seems to be quite a reliable observer – at
this point the reader doesn’t have any context for this woman
other than as “Curley’s wife” – the details come later. Steinbeck
immediately sets her up in the ‘predatory female’ role here.
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“a tart”
• In the initial conversation about Curley’s wife,
Candy goes on to say
“ Know what I think”…Well, I think Curley’s married….a
tart.”
“He ain’t the first.” said George. There’s plenty done
that.”
Comment on what Candy means here.
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Her appearance in the stable when all the boys
have gone into town (Saturday evening)
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An overview of this situation could be that there is a sharing of dreams and the beginning of a friendship being
built between Crooks, Candy and Lennie – she comes in and spoils that friendship and poisons their dreams.
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All four characters have something in common – they are all lonely dreamers.
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She uses her habitual greeting when she arrives in the barn:
“Any you boys seen Curley?”
Her attack on the men is relentless and bitter – hardly surprising when you consider her husband of two weeks prefers
to spend his Saturday evening at the brothel with prostitutes rather than at home with her. Do you think he is
neglecting her or is he doing this to give a message to the men? If so, it is rather a dangerous message – it will make
them think he isn’t interested in his wife and perhaps encourage them to follow up on her flirtatious behaviour.
Her appearance is typical and the description familiar:
“Her face was heavily made up. Her lips were slightly parted. She breathed strongly, as though she had been running.”
This is quite a sexual description of her. Her appearance her is meant to provoke a reaction.
Consider some of the things she says in this scene:
“They left all the weak ones here.”
“You’re all scared of each other, that’s what.”
“A bunch of bindle-stiffs – a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep.”
“Keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”
Is she deliberately attacking them to make herself feel better?
You will also need to look carefully at the reactions of the men to her in this scene and consider what they think about
her.
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Her dreams
• “her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she
hurried before her listener could be taken away”
Her speech here is almost written like a soliloquy where an actor reveals their
inner thoughts to an audience. Lennie is there but he isn’t listening or
engaged with what she is saying – he’s more concerned about the dead
puppy. She doesn’t get much of a chance to speak elsewhere in the novel –
either the men try to get rid of her and Curley doesn’t allow her to speak. It is
quite poignant to consider that not only doesn’t she have a name, she doesn’t
really have a voice either. (This is an ‘A’ point on writers’ technique)
• “coulda been in the movies and had nice clothes”
• “coulda sat in them big hotels”
• “Had pitchers took of me”
• “I coulda spoke in the radio”
She reveals her dream to Lennie just before she dies. The fact that he doesn’t
really reply invites this kind of intimacy.
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Suzy and Clara
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Whit’s description of Suzy:
‘Old suzy’s a laugh’
‘Suzy got nice chairs’
‘She ain’t rushing guys through and kickin’ ‘em out’
What does the reader interpret about Suzy from these
statements?
• How do the men feel about her?
• What is their relationship with her like?
• How do you thinks she represent women in the 1930’s?
– back this up using some evidence from your earlier
research
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Suzy and Clara
• What Suzy herself says:
• “I know what you boys want”
• “My girls is clean”
• “There ain’t no water in my whiskey”
• What impression does she create of herself and as a
woman?
• How does Steinbeck intend the reader to feel towards
Suzy?
• How does she compare to Curley’s wife in the way that
Steinbeck has written about her? Think about the
different descriptions of them and what he tells us.
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The barn conversation -what does
Curley’s wife really want?
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You will need to re-read the whole of the passage leading up to her death really
carefully and think about the way the conversation works – who is in charge and if,
in fact it is a real conversation of more of a an outpouring of thoughts/hopes and
dreams from each of them that requires no response from the other.
Is there any sexual motivation to her appearance here – she seems to be full of
sexual promise when talking to the other men, yet this scene is ambiguous – why
do you think Steinbeck has written it this way? She just seems to want the
intimacy of a conversation here rather than anything else. Does this make you
have a more sympathetic view of her?
She comes in quietly – refers to Lennie as “sonny-boy” assumes the upper hand in
the conversation.
She takes advantage of the fact that Lennie wants to talk to someone just as much
as she does – he’s just killed his puppy and is worried about the consequences.
She is very persuasive in getting him to talk.
Steinbeck refers to her looking to see if she was impressing Lennie – think about
why he might do this. – “She looked closely at Lennie to see if she was impressing
him” – why would she need or want to impress Lennie – is it something that she
instinctively does with all men?
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Revelations about Curley
• She reveals her thoughts about Curley when she is confiding in
Lennie:
• “I don’t like Curley – he ain’t a nice fella.”
• This is the first direct criticism of him – does she do it out of a need
to talk or because she knows Lennie won’t remember it to repeat
it?
• The reader knows that it is a pivotal point in what is a very
dangerous situation. She now moves physically closer to Lennie
increasing the sense of danger that the reader is aware of:
“And because she had confided in him she moved closer to Lennie and
sat beside him.”
• She warms to Lennie as she realises he doesn’t really understand:
“I ain’t never told this to no-one before.”
• Note the increase in confidence because of Lennie’s innocence.
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Her dreams
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We already know about the dreams of Curley’s wife but whilst she is confiding in Lennie she
repeats them are they convincing or are they just as far-fetched as Lennie’s dream of tending the
rabbits? Are both sets of dreams futile from the start?
“Coulda been in the pitchers and had nice clothes”
“Coulda sat in them big hotels.”
Coulda had pitchers took of me.”
“I coulda spoke on the radio.”
“It wouldn’t have costa cent because I was in the pitcher.”
“Because this guy says I was a natural.”
You may want to use some of your research information to go with some of these quotes to show
how typical her dreams were of many young women at the time.
You will also need to comment on the fact that her dreams are all based on male promises and all
those promises had been made to her by men wishing to ingratiate themselves with her,
presumably for sexual motives – she was completely taking advantage of and her naivety is clear to
see at this point. She was star-struck by talk of a life in the movies.
You may also want to think about why she wants to get away from the life she had.
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Curley’s wife is revealed as a fuller
character
• When she speaks to Lennie just before her death
she says:
“Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to
nobody, I get awful lonely… I can’t talk to nobody
but Curley. Else he gets mad” “whatta they think I
am anyways”
Do you think Steinbeck is trying to influence the
feelings of the reader towards her? Why?
She hints at her poor relationship with Curley – find
an earlier piece of evidence that his temper is a
problem in their relationship.
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Caring female or manipulator?
• On the death of Lennie’s puppy:
“She spoke soothingly”
“She consoled him”
Does she really care about Lennie or is she
manipulating him into having a conversation
with her?
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“Just a mutt”
• What do you think Curley’s wife means when
she makes the following statement to Lennie
in the barn? Comment on the use of colloquial
language.
• “He was just a mutt. The whole country is
full of mutts”
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Lennie strokes her hair
• This is the pinnacle of the danger that the reader knows she is in
and at this point her death becomes inevitable.
• Think about whether her offer for Lennie to stroke her hair is a
completely innocent one. Is she trying to lead him in to a more
physical encounter or is she treating him like a child? This question
is ultimately unanswerable –just like so much to do with Curley’s
wire, Steinbeck is deliberately ambiguous.
• “Lennie’s big fingers fell to stroking her hair.”
• This quote may remind the reader of Curley’s hand – the one he
“was keeping soft for his wife”, the same hand that Lennie had
crushed earlier on.
• She only starts to struggle when her appearance is getting “mussed
up” – she is still preoccupied with outward appearances – is she
really that superficial a character?
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Death of Curley’s wife
“She wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with the
red ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and the little
sausage curls were all in place”
• Steinbeck is using repetition here.
• As a structural feature of the text why do you think he
chooses to do this?
• What is the impact of the repetition on the reader?
• How does it make the reader feel about this particular
character?
• Where else in the text does Steinbeck use this
technique?
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Curley’s wife in death
• You will need to re-read the description of her
after her death carefully and consider what
Steinbeck is telling the reader about her.
• Is Steinbeck exploring the idea of the woman
corrupted by life and the male world who is
returned to a state of innocence in death?
• “And the meanness and the planning and the
discontent and the ache for attention were all
gone from her face. She was very pretty and
simple, and her face was sweet and young…”
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