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Sexism In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Sexism is a major problem in our society. Not only in the past, but in the present, and most likely the future, both men and women have been and are segregated in various ways. In the story ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is judged harshly men. Although John Steinbeck was not a sexist person himself, he wrote about a time when women did not have nearly as much freedom as we have today. It is evident that the men working in the story, were sexist to Curley’s wife by treating her like an object, not a person.

Curley’s wife is well known around the farm. For one, she is the boss’s son’s wife, but the reason that everybody knows her, is that they think she’s a tramp. “George looked around at Lennie. ‘Jesus, what a tramp,’ …show more content…
“He felt safe now, and he spoke more confidently. ‘Wait’ll you see Curley’s wife.’” (Steinbeck pg.29) Curley and many others talk and act like Curley’s wife is nothing more than an object. Curley especially does not care about how she feels. When he goes around the farm bragging to everyone about dirty things, he never even consider her feelings. “‘Well, I tell ya what--Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife.’ George studied the cards absorbedly. ‘That’s a dirty thing to tell around,’ he said.” Although Curley treats his wife with disrespect, he is is not the only one. “I seen her give Slim the eye. Slim’s a jerkline skinner. Hell of a nice fella. Slim don’t need to wear no high-heeled boots on a grain team. I seen her give Slim the eye. Curley never seen it. An’ I seen her give Carlson the eye.” The men criticize Curley’s wife just by the way that she looks at people. Lennie is the only character that really treats her like a person. “He moved cautiously close to her, until he was right against her. ‘I like to pet nice things. Once at a fair I seen some of them long-hair rabbits. An’ they was nice, you bet. Sometimes I’ve even pet mice, but not when I could get nothing better.’” (Steinbeck pg.90) Lennie can not understand why George tells

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