Back in the 1930 women were known as second class citizens. They didn’t have the same rights that men had. Doing any other job than being a house wife was really frowned upon. Men would go out and work for the money whilst women would look after the children and clean the home. Also during this time women had to cover up their legs and arms as men could get the wrong idea.
By this point in history the suffragettes were in protest. The suffragettes were fighting the rights of women. by 1933 the modern area was coming in. women’s dresses were getting shorter. They all wanted to be like the Hollywood stars the femmes’ fatales. In the story Of Mice and Men the story is set in that time and the problems they were facing. Curley’s wife was one of the women in the story. She really wanted and was trying to be a femmes’ fatales.
To show the sexism in the time the writer John Steinbeck didn’t even give her a name. She was referred to as just Curley’s wife. In the story it describes what Lennie and George think of her. Lennie being thinks she’s really “Purdy” and takes a fancying to her. George being the smart and serious one understands the situation and what she is trying to do and says she a “rat trap”. Although in the story she is known as a slag she is just trying to be like all the movie stars.
