I got marked at just about an A for this homework
Q. How does Steinbeck present attitudes to women in the society in which the novella is set?
A. Throughout the novella Steinbeck deliberately under-represents women, with the only female to physically make an appearance being Curley’s wife, and she is not even afforded the dignity of a name. This is perhaps to reflect the fact that women in 1930s America often weren’t afforded the thought and importance their equal numbers with men deserved. Only three types of women appear or are described in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men; “Aunt Clara”, portrayed as the domestic hero and noble housewife women at the time were generally expected to become – then, Curley’s wife being an example, there is also those who have failed to become the above, and hence are instead dismissed as a “tart” or “jailbait” by the ranch hands. The third includes “Susy”; the owner of a brothel, “crackin’ jokes all the time”.
Steinbeck’s depiction of attitudes towards women in 1930s America is therefore quite disturbing; always either a housewife, a prostitute, or somewhere on the line between. Upon her introduction, Steinbeck is immediately dismissive of Curley’s wife, choosing to describe her as a “girl” rather than a ‘woman’, then describing only her appearance as “heavily made up”, and wearing a “cotton house dress”, as if these were the only important features about her. Tragically, Curley’s wife herself seems to realise her placement at the bottom of the hierarchy of the ranch, when she includes herself in noting “they left all the weak ones here”. Indeed, she relies on her husband for any place among them, perhaps a sad reflection that a woman’s social standing was often only as high as who her husband was.
The loneliness of a migrant worker, the American Dream (or more relevant, their failure to achieve it) and the endless cycle of work are common themes in Of Mice and Men, yet all the same ideas apply to Curley’s wife as well as to the ranch workers. Just as it is George and Lennie’s dream to own their own farm and “live off the fatta’ the lan’”, it was her dream to “be in the movies”. George and Lennie are lucky to have each other’s company, and they realise it: “Guys like us ... are the loneliest guys in the world... They don’t belong no place”. Curley’s wife, however, suffers from an equivalent crippling loneliness; Curley’s failure to provide adequate company for her, treating her instead as a sexual object, causes her to desperate seek attention from the other ranch hands (“Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?”). Furthermore, just as George, Lennie and Candy’s dreams are broken by the end of the novella, Curley’s wife’s already had been broken when she married Curley. In attaching many of the same themes to Curley’s wife, he points out that women are exactly the same as men, with the same emotions and passions, and should be treated as such, and so is criticising 1930s American attitudes towards women.