Why is curleys wife not given a name

On the one hand, yes, I agree that it does remove any sense of personal connection with her. On the other hand, the fact that she does not have a name for the entirety of Of Mice and Men suggests that her role is limited and will never extend farther beyond that: she is Curley's wife and will never amount to anything more than that title.

It severs any sense of connection we as readers might feel toward her. I think it was a work of genius on Steinbeck's part. Curley's wife hated the idea of being property, of belonging to someone, but she did. It was a twist of sad irony that made Curley's wife all the more interesting.

View 2 comments. Write a comment Abby Oct 29, PM 5 votes. I think Curly's wife didn't have a name because her opinion wasn't important to the ranch. She was a nobody therefore Steinbeck treated her like a nobody. Most people interpreted out of Steinbeck's book that curly's wife was nothing more then the daily ranch tramp, but there isn't any evidence, that's just a biased assumption made by the readers. What we do see is that Curly was a jealous husband.

In grade school my teacher asked the class if we though Curly's wife deserve any respect in the ranch, most students said no that she was a bad wife. But No one ever judge Curly as a husband.

Curly was a far worse husband. Curly's wife didn't have the option whenever or not she wanted to be with Curly. In the ranch she was left to be on her own, she couldn't make friends with anyone there because they were all men, and curly would go donkey on her. For example, Slims character accepted Curly's wife as a woman at the ranch, he never messed with her, but he didn't called her any names, and he did small talk with her whenever she was present.

But Curly as unusual showed jealousy. So the actual question is, who was the actual victim. Curly who had a tramp of a wife? Lindsey Oct 24, AM 2 votes. Chris Sep 04, PM 0 votes. Don't know if this has any bearing on this discussion but in the bible Lot's wife is never named, but she is turned into a pillar of salt.

Trick question would be what is the name of Lot's wife, because it is never mentioned. Curley's Wife was called just that because it showed that she was Curley's property and that women held no respect from anyone. Men disregarded their opinion on any matters past what dresses they wanted to order. Her lack of name also shows how she was treated as property. The apostrophe s is commonly used to designate ownership of something or, in this case, someone.

Michael Mar 22, PM 0 votes. I think it's pretty clear from the article that sexism wasn't the focus of why Steinbeck opted to omit her name. For those not convinced, here's some slightly more objective evidence: if Steinbeck wanted to address sexism, wouldn't he have used all of his female characters to indicate this?

Aunt Clara, Lennie's aunt, is named. If Steinbeck wanted to address sexism, wouldn't it have been imperative not to name Clara as well? Perhaps, some more evidence: Curley's wife isn't portrayed as property in any way other than by the fact that she is not named which is arguable at best.

Sure, there are indications of negligence and perhaps abuse, but she certainly does not act as property when she is on the ranch. For example, she flirts with some of the men, sometimes even in front of Curley, something that is clearly out of character for "property".

Sarah May 23, PM 0 votes. You sound like a smart guy. You probably are I still have a opinion and it's a bit different. That's the cool thing about literature, people interpret it differently. Interestingly, Steinbeck did weigh in on the issue of why Curly's wife had no given name: Elaine Steinbeck, the writer's widow, recalls: "I asked John once, 'Why didn't you name Curley's wife? She's not a person, she's a symbol.

She has no function, except to be a foil -- and a danger to Lennie. It was. Second, that quote is nothing if not brimming with sexist overtones: A symbol, not a person. No function but to be a foil and a danger. I'll leave it to others to unpack all the potential sexist and feminist-related ramifications there--and whether they are more message by Steinbeck or about Steinbeck and his times--but certainly the idea that the lack of a personal name was a deliberate choice, that it has clear meaning within the story and as part of the characterization, and that it is a topic worthy of discussion is backed up by Steinbeck himself.

View all 3 comments. Monty J Heying Nicely done. To me, this is a story about "the best-laid plans," a story about dreams not achieved.

The main thing Curley's wife wanted was to "make a name for herself. We are told that after she is killed, all the "plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face" In this sense her namelessness is not a sexist thing at all; she is merely another symbol of dreams not realized and desires being thwarted. So within the plot itself, she can be seen as Curley's property, or as someone whose name wouldn't even be known to the ranch hands, but if we are looking at her symbolically, she falls into the same category as Lennie, Crooks, George, and Candy, all characters who want something they can never have no matter how much they plan, desire, and dream.

Nov 20, AM 0 votes. Peter Oct 21, AM 0 votes. It's unimportance makes it important Asked 4 years, 9 months ago. Active 4 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 2k times. Improve this question. Wonderful question! We need more like it on this site! I'll try to write an answer when I have time.

Hamlet Did you ever get around to answering this one? If you did, I'd love to hear it. But I'll get to this, I promise, even if it takes me weeks. For the record, I think this is easily the best question asked on this site so far. You absolutely deserve an answer. Hamlet throwing you a ping in case you forgot about answering this :- It's been more than weeks, and the current answer isn't really very satisfying.

It was repeatedly mentioned in the movie that the prime responsibility of women is to marry a husband and run family affairs therefore, Joan Clarke was asked by her family to return home and start her own family.

This depicts the gender discrimination of society at that time, who considered women unparallel to men in every field. She first appeared in the doorway of the bunkhouse, asking the location of her husband, which is later revealed that it is just an excuse to be able to interact with the ranchers. Janie tries to love Logan, but struggles. Men were free to do as they pleased while women were expected to be submissive housewives, meaning they must stay home alone and tend to the house.

In addition, she discloses to them that Curley gives her little regard and that she loathes staying in their small house all the time. As a result of the lack of attention she receives, she utilises her young and seducing looks to obtain it from any body.

He provide his guests all of the luxury services. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me! Another way that loneliness shows in a character is through Candy.

His dog was his best friend and after he died he could only cope with the loneliness by following Lennie and George 's dream. Another way it is shown in the book is through Curley 's wife. She tried to deal with it by flirting with other workers on the ranch because her husband does not give her attention.