Through the novella authorized by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, the author explores the role of women in The Great Depression.
By reading the book an individual could guess that women were expected to play house wife, and even if they had dreams they wished to accomplish, they had to stay home. The only women characters portrayed in the novelle was Curley’s wife, Aunt Clara, and the prostitutes. While Aunt Clara was the only women seen as a mother figure, all the other women were seen as “jailbait” and inferior to men. “She’s gonna make a mess. She’s a jailbait all set on the trigger. That Curley got his work cut out for him.
Ranch with a bunch of guys on it, ain’t a place for a girl, specially like her.” (51). The word “jailbait” would refer to Curley’s wife being very attractive and dangerous to toy with, and her being approached in anyway will result in a prison sentence, hence her being to bait to jail. This part of the story shows that Steinbeck is trying to say that the role women is to lure men in and then trap them. The part when Steinbeck says, “Ranch with a bunch of guys on it, ain’t a place for a girl”, this would represent that there is not a place for women in ranch life, and the In another scene with the prostitutes, they are seen as objects to pay for, which will not lead to commitment.
