The way that Curley’s wife has been portrayed throughout this novel, as a flirt and trouble maker, is explored here in a very interesting way, with Steinbeck taking advantage of what had taken place to her to offer an element of alternate interpretation on her character; allowing her, through death, to tell her own story; a very different one to the one woven by the ranch hands. One the one hand how she was in life is stated obviously and with no hint of delicacy, the “meanness and ache…attention” that was apparently shown on her face offering a very simple look upon the superficial side of her character, but written in an ironically superficial style, allowing for the first time a hint at her true self to be displayed; a side that had by no means been explored before hand. In death, it seems that Steinbeck wanted to show how she could have been, how she and other women perhaps would be if not for the distraction, if not for the false sense of purpose installed in their heads by men. In death she is alone, alone with no need for the make up, the glamour or the sense that she is inadequate. When she has no one to impress, when there is no one left for her to aspire to or feel a need to impress she is “pretty and simple”, “sweet and young”, a far cry from the “jail bait” that she was referred to earlier in the novel. This viewpoint is one that was not offered by Steinbeck whilst she was alive, and so from that point of view this extract is highly atypical, and is the sole place in the novel that offers a chance to look upon women caught up in such situations as equally unfortunate and suppressed as the men that shared their fate. The briefness of this idea in the novel is deliberate, showing the discrimination women suffered from in the 1930’s – an idea explored consistently throughout this novel.
The use of animalistic imagery is also highly typical of the novel, with the use of the “Shepard bitch” and the “pigeon” in this scene highly typical of the novel. Steinbeck uses these animals in a way as such to show that they appear to have a degree of intelligence, an ability to feel foreboding where as Lennie, who was also subjected to anthropomorphosis by Steinbeck, and yet had no power to see what was to occur, no power to leave when was necessary “the pigeon circled then flew out” , “ the bitch…caught dead scent…scampered away”. In short lennie, despite all his characteristics, possesses less ability to asses a situation and its dangers than the simplest of animals. This is a confusing message, as he is presented with many animalistic qualities throughout the novel, however it is justifiable in that he is portrayed, crucially through metaphor as almost animalistic (“paw like hands”): He retains features and certain characteristics, and yet possesses none of the survival instinct, none of the ability to interpret a situation, no sense of flight and/or fight (shown by his need to be instructed to harm Curley in the barn (“ go on Lennie, fight back you crazy son of a bitch”)). He is innocent as the purest of animal, the simplest of minds, and yet this seemingly perfect existence has catastrophic effect on the lives of the two men – he is incompatible with human life, with society and as such he is tragically driven from it by the man who gave so much in an attempt to integrate him, his counterpart George. The demise of Lennie, the nature of it and the inevitability of such an occurrence are also highlighted through use of animals, giving more evidence to the typicality of this extract in comparison to the rest of the novel. Candys dog is slain by a third party, and the greatest regret of candy is that he did not take his own dogs life. The similarities between the fates of the dog and lennie are blinding and it is through this that it is made tragically evident what is to occur to lennie, and who it must be to do it: George must be the one to end his suffering, the one to send him to a better place, one where perhaps, he will be compatible.
Steinbeck follows the conformations of descriptive writings with his work, and appeals to the senses of the reader in order to create the desired effects. He did so during the scene of the murder, where the minutes running up to, and the time immediately thereafter containing no sound, only a deadly silence with not even an animal present to disturb the deathly silence. He does so here too by manipulating the effects of sound, and the constant of time, deliberately altering their behaviour perhaps with ironic motive; if only there had been people present outside to cause noise at the time of the murder, someone to hear her scream; if only there had been a possibility for time to stand still, for enough time to pass in the barn for George to come and rescue Lennie, as he has done so often before. The need to silence the noise outside, the omission of even a whimper from the puppies who were present in the barn suggests such a motive is possible, and that here, like in so many other places in the novel, the sound, or the lack of it, is highly relevant. Just as the “heron swooped silently” to catch the wriggling water snake, so here silence prevails, a silence that shows intention on Steinbecks part, tragedy on the part of Lennie and is a perfect reflection of the readers mindset in reading the scene; aware what was to occur there, perfectly capable of deducing from the many escalating signs that it was coming, and yet still silenced by the reality of something so innocent as Lennie committing such an atrocity. The use of sound and time then is not merely a typical feature this passage shares with the rest of the novel; it is an integral feature that naturally they all have in common.
