Curley’s Wife – Character Study
Curley's Wife - Character Study Lorna Gunn 4F
Recently I have been reading the novel "Of Mice and Men" by widely acclaimed author, John Steinbeck. It is a story about two ranch hands Lennie Small and George Milton. Lennie is a childlike character who travels around with the somewhat stronger and more able character George. They are a twosome who have undertaken a new job on a ranch in Soledad having fled from trouble provoked by Lennie in their last job in Weed. The novel focuses on their life on this ranch, the new people they meet there and some of their experiences there.
On the ranch there is a well know woman, referred to merely as "Curley's wife" throughout the book. There are two views which can be taken of her: a flirtatious, loud, trouble provoking tart, or a lonely self isolated, helpless woman merely looking for some companionship in her male-dominated world. There is evidence in the novel to support both of these views.
Her appearance plays a very important part as to how she is viewed by others on the ranch.
"She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes,
heavily made up."
Chapter Two, Page 32
"Her fingernails were red"
Chapter Two, Page 32
By these quotations we can tell that her appearance means a lot to her. The time she must take to make herself look so perfect shows her vanity. She is frequently associated with the colour red, a colour symbolising an impure woman, as well as one calculated to enrage a 'bull' such as Lennie. Perhaps she feels that she has to look so 'glamorous' like this to gain attention or to make her feel better about herself i.e. enhance her self-confidence. She could be so caught up in her appearance because she had ...
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Chapter Two, Page 32
By these quotations we can tell that her appearance means a lot to her. The time she must take to make herself look so perfect shows her vanity. She is frequently associated with the colour red, a colour symbolising an impure woman, as well as one calculated to enrage a 'bull' such as Lennie. Perhaps she feels that she has to look so 'glamorous' like this to gain attention or to make her feel better about herself i.e. enhance her self-confidence. She could be so caught up in her appearance because she had nothing else to do.
Throughout the novel she has a very flirty and provocative manner. When Candy first talks about her he says she is a tart and describes her as being an unfaithful woman with a seducing manner and sexually uninhibited. All the men in the ranch, excluding Slim, brand her as a 'tart'.
"She ain't concealin' nothing."
Candy, Chapter Two, Page 29
"She smiled archly and twisted her body."
Chapter Two, Page 33
"I seen her give Slim the eye. Curley never seen it.
An' I seen her give Carlson the eye."
Candy, Chapter Two, Page 29
The first quotation shows her physical appearance when with the ranch men, this and the second quotation both show that she is trying to be sexually provocative by showing off her body as much as she can without appearing foolish. By giving most men the eye, she makes it clear that she is not bothered who she gets attention from, as long as she gets some!
Curley's wife could also be very vicious and cruel. One occasion when she shows this side of herself is when she is speaking to Crooks, the stable buck.
"Well you keep your place then Nigger. I could get
you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
Curley's wife, Chapter Four, Page 85
This shows how she used her position, as the boss's son's new wife, to intimidate and 'bully' other people. She saw Crooks as an easy target to pick on because he was black, and an outsider because of it. People were very prejudiced against ethnic minorities in those days and this made it very easy for her to frighten Crooks. I think that she took pleasure out of his suffering.
She is newly married to Curley, an unpleasant man who we later learn, when she confides in Lennie, that she doesn't even like and regrets marrying!
"I don't like Curley, he ain't a nice fella."
Curley's wife, Chapter Five, Page 96
I don't think Curley was in love with her, he was merely proud of her attractiveness - the fact that she is merely referred to as 'Curley's wife' indicates that she is a possession of Curley's rather than a human being. Nevertheless he is very protective of her; he thinks that another man looking at his wife is an insult, therefore an excuse to start a fight. I think he looks for an excuse to start a fight as he himself comes across as a very bitter man, for example, at the end when Lennie kills her, my impression is that Curley uses this as an excuse to go after Lennie for his own revenge (when Lennie crushed his hand) rather than his wife's. Knowing that she was never really loved by her husband would make her really unhappy and enhance her desperate situation.
As there are no other females nearby and the ranch workers don't want to talk to her, she must get lonely. She says so several times.
"I get lonely" she said. "You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley."
Curley's wife, Chapter Five, Page 92
However, she goes about overcoming her loneliness the wrong way. Rather than attempting to make sensible conversation or lend a hand, she dresses inappropriately and seductively so that the men will pay attention to her. This obviously makes Curley fiercely jealous, resulting in the men wanting nothing to do with her because they fear trouble. It is partly her desire to be petted and admired which leads her to allow Lennie to stroke her hair, which in turn leads to her death in Lennie's hands.
She has no real dreams or ambition for her life, she merely clings onto a fantasy that she could be (or could have been) in Hollywood, in the movies and led a life of luxury.
"I tell you I could have went with shows. Not jus' one,
neither."
Curley's wife, Chapter Four, Page 82
"An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers..."
Curley's wife, Chapter Four, Page 83
This shows she is very naïve as she also believes that her mother had stolen a letter (from her "contact" in Hollywood) - her ticket to fame, which was obviously never written. Part of her unhappiness and dis-satisfaction with life is that it can never measure up to her dreams. She feels very trapped being married to the loathsome Curley.
I feel really sorry for her as she was an outcast, with no real friends or ambition. She was in an unhappy marriage, knowing she wasn't loved, merely a 'toy'. Her death is probably worst of all as nobody was sorry died and her husband used it as an excuse to kill Lennie to avenge his own mis-fortune, not his wives.
