We first meet Curley’s wife in the barn house; her presence is almost striking. Her appearance seems to embody the image we had constructed from candy’s description; provocative and very suggesting.
“She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made-up. Her fingernails were red”
The use of the colour red puts emphasis on the idea of her being a seductress and like a scarlet woman. However it also represents danger; and we are already aware of Lennie’s attraction to red. The description of her movements is a projection of her sensuousness yet playful attitude towards men; “her body was thrown forward” her body language is very provocative. She is aware that Curly is not in the barn, and even more aware that they are new ranchers. When she hears that Curly is looking for her she becomes “suddenly apprehensive”.
She is aware of her appeal and enjoys the attention she is getting from Lennie.
When she leaves, Lennie seems to have been transfixed by her presence, George however is almost to aware that she is a potential threat, he begins to call her a “bitch” “jailbait” and even “poison”.
Before we are re-joined with Curley’s wife we hear the same names George called her,from the other ranchers. We begin to have a more unfavourable attitude towards her; she makes us question her morals. We hear her being called the same name as Candy’s dog, which is significant considering the dog has been given a name yet Curley’s wife hasn’t.
This stresses on the theme of loneliness; Curley’s wife begins to reflect the rancher’s loneliness. Before Curley’s wife’s entrance, it opens in the harness room of the barn where crooks sleeps. We see him put down his guards and begin to open up to Lennie, his self-esteem grows and in the process is drawn into the dream of companionship and a better life. Yet this is destroyed by the interruption of Curley’s wife. Curly seems to have abandoned his wife while visiting a brothel with the other ranchers. We question why curly who has a wife at home needs to go to a brothel?. We than begin to consider whether her suggesting appearance is to convey her sexual desires or indeed her desire for companionship:
“ Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in the house alla time?”
Curley’s wife and Crooks appear to resemble one another in their situation. They have been made outsiders and been isolated by the other ranchers in effect of their physical appearance. Their appearances stand as obstacles in their way of making companions; crooks due to his disability and the racial-prejudice of the time and Curley’s wife who is female and married to the boss’s violent son.
Curley’s wife resents this comparison and tries to differ herself by reminding them that she could have been famous “I tell ya I could have went with shows …An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in the pitchers”. She becomes bitterer of the ‘Weak ones’ growing companionship, and uses her authority to re-establish the power of a white woman over a black crippled, by calling crooks cruel racist remarks. In her heap of envy she goes to the extent of threatening to ‘Frame’ Crooks. From her actions we can conclude that Curley’s wife craves attention and companionship, to the extent that she would deprive someone else of it.
In the final section we see Curley’s wife confide in Lennie in a ‘ passion of communication’, although Lennie shows no interest like Crook’s she feels overwhelmed by having someone to confide. We begin to see a more vulnerable and naive side to Curley’s wife. She mirrors the other ranchers dreams “He says he was gonna put me in the movies” we know that the men who told her she could be famous were abusing her youth and innocence by promising her every young girls dream. She doesn’t have the intelligence nor wisdom to understand the man’s intentions; “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.”
We learn from her short soliloquy that she is no more than a naive young girl who aspired to the glamorous life of a Hollywood actress, it is as though she doesn’t want to let the dream dwindle. So in result dresses in this provocative manner to almost keep this dream alive, for without it she has nothing. Her dreams of a better life are just as those of the ranchers, however she dreams more of being recognised by the masses, she craves the attention that she lacks in the farm. She seemed to view Curley’s proposal as a chance for an escape to a better life. We begin to feel sympathy for her, she is trapped in a marriage were she doesn’t like her husband, and can’t make friends due to his tight rein.
Although her fate is tragic, the way in which Steinbeck describes her in the moments after her death is as though she is the opposite person we met in the beginning of the novel. This is significant description in the play; it helps define what Curley's wife and many other woman of that time were, beneath the clothes and make-up. Beneath the actress and the role she played into, was nothing more than a young girl; “The ache and attention were gone form her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young”.
