This document includes an essay plan for 'Curley’s wife is responsible for her own death' in 'Of Mice and Men. This and other essays plans formed the basis of my GCSE study notes that helped me to achieve an A* in English Literature. Hope you find this helpful!
Agree Disagree
She is trapped in a loveless marriage, finding no -She speaks disparagingly of her house and her
comfort in her husband or her home and home: “I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this”
declaring, “I don’t like Curley” -She has a dream to help her escape from the
reality of her life
She is afraid of Curley and speaks of him in a The way she dresses and is excessively made up
disgusted manner, “Swell guy, ain’t he?” is inappropriate for the surroundings, “rouged
She is also treated as a possession and lips.... heavily made up....cotton house dress
threatened by Curley and red mules.... bouquets of red ostrich
feathers”
She is left alone for long periods of time: “I get She married for entirely selfish reasons and she
awful lonely” but is not allowed to leave the is continuously dissatisfied and seeking a way
ranch out;
She is not allowed to talk to anyone because of -She is vicious, threatening and vindictive when
his jealousy: “... I can’t talk to nobody but dealing with Crooks
Curley. Else he gets mad.” -She deliberately flirts with the men: “leaned
Curley appears to have only a sexual interest in against the door frame so that her body was
her: “glove fulla Vaseline!” but he also goes to thrown forward”
Suzy’s place, disrespecting her
- She is stifled and frustrated on the ranch:
“Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle
stiffs – a nigger and a dum-dum and a lousy
old sheep – and likin’ it because they ain’t
nobody else”
- Curley shows no grief at her death – only -She is forever finding excuses to enter the
anger bunkhouse
- The men think “A ranch with a bunch of -She seems to deliberately avoid Curley
guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially
like her
The men refer to her in derogatory terms – a
chattel, a temptress, a sex object, “jail bait”
- She is viewed with mistrust by the men for
being “purty”- men on ranch both dislike
and lust after her
- The men are uneasy and evasive when she She deliberately ridicules Curley’s boxing skills;
tries to interact with them;
She is not named and she is the only woman on
the ranch and lonely;
- She insists her mother robbed her of a
glittering career “in the movies”
She is the victim of her own stupidity and she is
a victim of the times she lived in; • she is killed
by Lennie;
- Even in death she is spurned by Curley
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