Name: Shaheer Ahmed

Date: 10/11/2020
Literature Paper 1
Of Mice and Men

6 Discuss the relationship between Curley and his wife in this novel.

You must consider the context of the novel in your answer.

Relationships are one of the themes in Of Mice and Men. There are no other characters in the
novel who have real relationships rather than Curley and Curley’s wife who are married to each
other. However, their relationship is not a good one despite it being the only one. They do not
love each other and have a very bad understanding of each other, Curley’s wife straight up does
not like him as a man, and Curley does not simply care about her and orders her to do things.
John Steinbeck, the author of this book, shows how relationships usually went badly during that
time as it was the time of the Great Depression, meaning that men had to leave their wives at
home and go which caused uncertainty and instability between them resulting in poor
relationships. In the novel, this is represented by Curley, Carlson's son, and his wife.

In the case of Curley’s wife, she is not interested in Curley at all and regrets getting married to
him. She says, “So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same
night.I don' like Curley. He ain't a nice fella". This means that she met Curley at a place and out
of desperation just decided to marry him without thinking about it. We know for a fact that she
does not like him at all and is just regretting her decision as she straight out says “I don' like
Curley. He ain't a nice fella". Part of the reason that she does not like Curley is because he
allows her no freedom at all, he tries to keep her inside the house away from the other men.
While on the other hand, Curley’s wife tries doing the opposite always by sneaking out or going
when Curley doesn't know to meet and talk with the men. Steinbeck demonstrates how women
had to comply with their husband's decisions and orders in order for them to keep the
relationship going for the rest of their lives. He showed that women were given no rights and
privileges, this was unfair. If the women did not comply and listen, the relationship would be
really unstable which is exactly what we see here between Curley and his wife.

On the other hand, Curley also doesn’t really like his wife. "Seems to me like he's worse lately,"
said the swamper. "He got married a couple of weeks ago. Wife lives over in the boss's house.
Seems like Curley is cockier'n ever since he got married”. This quote tells us that Curley has
been in a bad mood since he got married, meaning that Curley doesn't like her being around her.
It doesn’t really mean he doesn’t like her, it's more that he doesn't care about her and thinks his
job was to only get married and that's it. This is shown as Candy tells us that “Wife lives over in
the boss's house.” This shows us one of the things that Steinbeck is trying to illustrate. John
Steinbeck is trying to show us that in the past, women were treated like objects and personal
possessions which was very wrong to do. He shows us this through the use of Curley as he
keeps her at home and forces her to listen to her, basically treating her like an object. This is why
their relationship is not good at all, resulting in a sad ending for his wife as she is killed while
trying to end her loneliness.

In conclusion, Curley and his wife do not have a good relationship due to their actions. Curley not
giving her any rights and ordering her to always stay at home, limiting freedom, and Curley’s wife
never listening to him and disobeying, resulting in a very unstable relationship. John Steinbeck
also demonstrates this through things that happened during that time, like men giving no rights
and treating women as they are with nothing. In the end, both their actions led to a bad
relationship, both didn’t try to fix this and got what they deserved in the end.
(Total for Question 6 = 40 marks)