What is the importance of the character of Curley’s wife in ‘Of Mice And Men’?

Steinbeck reveals Curley's wife through conversations and the gossip that certain people tell George and Lennie. Everyone has their own opinion but all seem to think that she is a tart and that they don't really like her. Candy, the 'swamper' (cleaner) tells George and Lennie about Curley's wife before she even enters the novel.

C2 Pg 49 "Wait'll you see Curley's wife".

This is also when we learn that 'she got the eye'. We learn that she has 'the eye' for Slim and Carlson. When she addresses Slim, he replies 'Hi, good-looking' which makes us guess that Slim knows Curley's wife like him and that he doesn't mind the attention. When she says she's looking for Curley he says 'Well you ain't tryin' very hard. I seen him goin' in your house'. This is a ruder, more aggressive reply and suggests that he doesn't like her. Having 'the eye' means she's coming onto other men. This is unusual as she also get told that Curley and his wife have only been married for two weeks. From this is can assume that she is lonely and doesn't really love Curley. When George and Lennie do actually see Curley's wife, Steinbeck adds a paragraph of description.

C2 Pg 53 "She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers".

After Curley's wife has left George immediately starts to judge her. He uses words such as 'jail bait' and 'tramp'.

Curley's wife has 'got the eye'. We are told she has 'the eye' for Slim and Carlson by Candy the swamper. As I said before, after only two weeks this is an unusual thing, which suggests the lack of love between Curley and his wife. Curley's wife herself reveals their relationship in the fifth chapter.

C5 Pg 125 "I don' like Curley. He ain't a nice fella".

We also get told about her dream and how it never happened. She also says that the very same night that her dream was ruined she married Curley. We are forced to believe that she married Curley on the rebound of this.

C5 Pg 125 "So I married Curley".

This is a predictable statement from Curley's wife as before in the book in Crooks, the stable buck's room she mocks Curley and is very ironic towards him.

C4 Pg 110 "Swell guy ain't he"

and

C4 Pg 111 "Jus' the ol' one-two an' he'll go down".

She doesn't give one positive opinion about Curley throughout the entire book. We only get negative comments about him from her.

When she's in the barn with Lennie she reveals a lot about herself. She knows that she can tell Lennie about it because he won't understand, but she isn't absolutely positive.

C5 Pg 125 "Well, I ain't told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughtn'

to".

We learn from the information that she tells Lennie that she also had a dream just like everyone else. Her dream was Hollywood. She tells him about meeting actors who promised her success but she never got anything. She blames her mother.

Overall we learn that Curley's wife is very much like everyone else. She has a dream and she is lonely, but she gets ignored because she's a woman. Women, black people, cripples, dumb people and old people can't get their dreams, because ranch society is too mean. Curley's wife represents women. Loneliness is what makes the ranch society so mean, and only the meanest people actually get their dreams.