Steinbeck's depiction of Curley's wife.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Perhaps the most significant development in this chapter is Steinbeck's depiction of Curley's wife. Before this episode, the reader might dismiss her as easily as George does. She shows herself to be a flirt, a conscious temptress, and a manipulator. However, in the final moments before her death, Steinbeck presents his sole female character sympathetically. Her loneliness becomes the focus of this scene, as she admits that she too has an idea of paradise that circumstances have denied her. Her dream of being a movie star is not unlike George's fantasy of the farm; both are desperately held views of the way life should be, which have long persisted despite their conflict with reality.

Curley's wife seems to sense, like Crooks (who notes earlier that Lennie is a good man to talk to), that because Lennie doesn't understand things, a person can say almost anything to him. She confesses her unhappiness in her marriage, her lonely life, and her broken dreams in "a passion of communication." Unfortunately, she fails to see the danger in Lennie, and her attempt to console him for the loss of his puppy by letting him stroke her hair leads to her tragic death.