On the other hand, Curley’s wife is insecure on the ranch although her insecurity is masked by a manipulative and flirtations attitude as well as appearance, which she consistently delivers to the men on the ranch, especially George and Lennie. For example, the stance she takes is such that it throws her body forward, she smiles and twitches and she obviously knows what effect this is having: “Although she did not seem to be looking at Lennie, she bridled a little” This insinuates that she went to hut to seek male attention and not her husband. The difference in the characters of Lennie and George is further emphasised in their reactions to her. Lennie is not insecure in his observations of her and appears innocent and describes what he sees as “Purty.” However, George on the other hand, who is worldly wise, is portrayed as more astute and sees straight through her flirtatious act and playful talk and a sense of foreboding is created “Don’t you even take a look… I never seen no piece of jailbait worse than her.” Ironically, her shear loneliness and isolation leads her to her death as she makes the serious error of trying to overcome it by playing the tease with Lennie.
Therefore, Curley’s wife helps to support the theme of isolation as she appears not only isolated from other women by being in an all male environment, but also from her dreams which she shares with Lennie, opportunities and experiences which would see her develop as a person because she is compounded between Curley and the itinerant workers on the ranch.
Furthermore, the characters on the ranch do not only accentuate insecurity but is also due to the words and techniques Steinbeck utilizes. For instance, throughout the novel there are negative and somewhat vicious words and phrases exploited by Steinbeck, for instance, “slashed,” “attacked” “helplessly” and “horror” (etc). All these emotive verbs and adjectives really portray the true meaning of insecurity as they are harrowing and therefore give the reader an insight into the corrosive conditions the workers endured day in and out, with no remorse felt by anyone, only themselves. Also, Steinbeck is ambiguous in the way he opens up each chapter because he describes nature in its idyllic state, although as the reader delves further into the chapters it becomes clear that he opts for the pessimistic approach by creating an oppressive atmosphere throughout the ranch which ultimately is accentuated by the characters.
The setting contributes greatly to the theme of loneliness and insecurity because it is miles away from “the outside world.” Consequently, the workers are caught up in a “rap trap” of loneliness- they never stay in one place long enough to form a permanent relationship as George quotes “Guy’s like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the word- they ain’t got no family- they don’t belong no place.” Even if the relationship existed, take George and Lenny for instance- it always gets destroyed due to the intense instability of itinerant life the workers lead as we discover at the end of the novel when Lennie kills Curley’s wife.
Alternatively, throughout the novel almost all the characters converse in a stereotypical colloquial dialect which they grew up into and are now accustomed to. This colloquial dialect is a clever technique accentuated by Steinbeck and it is used extensively by Lennie although it is also spoken by Candy and George. The language ironically makes use of double negatives for example, “They ain’t got no family.” Therefore this dialect conveys a feeling of unsettlement and discrepancy towards the reader as we are accustomed to this use of poor English and as a result, depict a situation where the characters are constantly watching their backs, almost as if they’re expecting trouble and haven’t even got the time to relax and speak properly because they are that insecure of their lives.
There are also many other features, which are exposed throughout the novel, which contribute and support the theme insecurity. For instance, the reader discovers cynical and pessimistic points brought to the fore by Steinbeck throughout the novel, as he explains through the characters the awful somewhat corrosive conditions men had to endure on “working ranches” throughout the American depression, as they could not find any work and houses were scarce. Moreover, the workers life’s were “canned” because if anything happened that the bosses didn’t approve of, for example, Curley’s insecurity of George due to the fact that he is much larger than him and threatens his leading rank on the ranch. Therefore, Curley describes George as a “Great big bastard”- the reader discovers Curley’s own personal insecurity which is shrouded in vindictive comments and violent outbursts he portrays towards Lennie and the other characters although, as his fears are all channelled into aggressive behaviour, this resultantly further isolates his wife and leads to the incident where, regrettably on Curley’s behalf, Lennie crushes his hand.
Perhaps the most darkening aspect of the novel falls onto Curley’s wife due to the fact that she is given no name. This is an important admission and supports the idea of worthlessness and insecurity that the character feels about her, and which is rebounded by other characters- as George observes: “Jesus, she’s a tramp.” In this respect, the character of Curley’s Wife supports Steinbeck’s presentation of a human life being valueless which inescapably leads to insecurity. Finally in retrospect, Steinbeck’s description and presentation of itinerant workers and older people, for instance Candy, expresses a harsh world of loneliness, isolation and inevitably insecurity although as this is his initial aim, personally I believe it has truly been metered out in many respects there is a comprehendible link established on the grounds of the novel, between loneliness aggression and isolation.
