a young girl who is pretty and wants the attention of men.
George’s reaction to Curley’s wife, however, makes the reader realize that she is a
potential threat to the two men. George sees her as ‘poison’ and ‘jailbait’. He is angry
with Lennie’s admiration of her ‘she’s purty’ and fiercely tells him that he must stay
away from her. ‘Don’t you even take a look at that bitch.’ Later, when we find out
what happened at Weed, where Lennie frightens a woman by stroking her dress and
they are forced to flee the town from a lynch mob, we understand why George is so
alarmed that she will be the cause of more trouble for them.
Whit’s opinion of Curley’s wife is one of bewilderment, he sees through the flirty appearance and just sees a girl trying too seek attention, but he still doesn’t understand why she acts like a ‘tart’, ‘ I don’t know what the hell she wants’. But as we know she is only doing this because it’s the only way that she knows how to attract attention. She is a woman in a man’s world, and she uses her femininity to attract attention.
As the story progresses we gain more knowledge of Curley’s wife. When she comes
to Crooks’ door when all the men are in town on Saturday night we realize that she is
Lonely. She knows that Curley has gone to a brothel and we get some insight into what
the reality of her life is on the ranch. When Crooks suggests that she should go away
because ‘we don’t want no trouble’ she says ‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody
ever’ once in a while’ and we realize that she is lonely with no-one to talk to but
Curley who spends all his time talking about ‘what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t
like’. We also find out that she has her own private dream that she could have been an
actress or a showgirl.
However, any sympathy that we might have felt for Curley’s wife is reduced because
of the cruelty she shows when talking to the men and by the way she treats Crooks.
She is contemptuous of Candy, Crooks and Lennie, referring to them as ‘a nigger an’
a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep’ and she laughs at their dream of having a ranch of
their own, dismissing it as ‘Balony’. Far worse though is the way she removes all
Crooks’ pride and dignity when he dares stand up to her, asking her to leave his room.
She reminds him scornfully that she could have him ‘lynched’ if she chose.
She doesn’t actually say so, but Candy and we know that it would be by claiming that he had tried to rape her.
When Lennie is in the barn and Curley’s wife enters the reader is again aware of how
lonely she is. Even though she realises that Lennie is not listening to her she is
desperate to talk and we hear how isolated she feels. When Lennie tells her that he’s
not allowed to talk to her she cries ‘ What’s the matter with me?’ Then adds ‘Seems
like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live’. We then find out more details of
her life, that a man who ‘was in pitchers’ said that he was ‘gonna put her in the
Movies’ and would write to her as ‘soon as he got back to Hollywood’. The letter
never came, and Curley’s wife believed her mother stole it but we realize that there
was never likely to be any letter. The man was probably just taking advantage of her
vanity, allowing her to think that she could be a famous film star.
We also find out that Curley’s wife only married Curley to get away from home. She
met him at the Riverside Dance Palais, probably attracted to him because he was the
son of a ranch owner. Now, however, the reality is that she doesn’t even like him. ‘He
ain’t a nice fella’, she confides in Lennie. When they are talking together she shows
some kindness to Lennie when she realizes that he understands little of what she is
saying. After she is dead we are shown by Steinbeck a different side of Curley’s wife.
In death the ‘meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for
attention’ have gone from her face. We see she is just a young and pretty girl.
Steinbeck’s description of her dead body seems designed to make us see her as a victim of life.
The best laid plans o’ mice and
men gang aft agley.
(Robert Burns)
Best laid Plans often goes astray.
