Corrupting Powers of Women - Motif Essay

After reading Of Mice and Men, I started to notice some corrupting powers of Curley’s wife, so this essay will address the motif about the corrupting powers of women. This book includes the seductive appearance of Curley’s wife, how she flirts with George and tempts Lennie – which results in the event of the wife’s death.

The seductive appearance of Curley’s wife consists of heavy makeup, gorgeous hair and clothes to impress & attract men. All of this is abnormal on the farm because normally people would not care about the makeup, hair, and clothes. They would really just throw on some sloppy clothes and leave their hair alone - this wife was different. She liked glamorous things and attention.

This kind of attention involves some flirting and unlady-like actions. Curley's wife liked to flirt with George by going to the barn alone with him, pulling her dress up and sitting on the stacks of hay like any normal farmer would (which means the legs would be apart too). She was just like any normal whore/prostitute.

Her death was mainly because of her letting Lennie touch her hair. She wanted to talk to him and tempt him into talking to her, so she told him to feel her hair. Lennie did and kept on touching her hair harder and harder, which made the wife get uneasy. Because of this, she started to scream for help but it was too late. Lennie had muffled her and gotten violent/angry; resulting in him breaking the wife's neck.

In closing, because of the corrupting powers of Curley's wife, she got a broken neck & I can make an assumption that whenever any woman keeps corrupting, it can lead to events like the wife getting her neck broken.