She first appears in the novel shortly after the arrival of George and Lennie at the ranch. We are told that she is heavily made up and is wearing “a cotton house dress and red mules’ with ‘ ostrich feathers’ and her nails painted red. She is depicted as inappropriately dressed for such an environment and seems to want to overtly emphasise her femininity in this male environment. She is “ dressed to kill”, which makes her appear tarty and flirtatious. It seems from the outset Steinbeck intends to portray her in a negative light. This perhaps make the reader take an instant dislike to her and also conveys to us her apparent need for male attention. This would suggest that she is neglected by her husband and so, seeks attention from elsewhere. Using her sexuality is the only way of her getting this. However the other men do not seem to have a particularly high opinion of her and see her as ”jailbait” and someone who would lead them into great trouble.
Being the only woman on the ranch, Curley’s wife is lonely and sad –her marriage to Curley makes this worse, she wanders around the ranch, “aimlessly” and she’s always “looking for Curley” for an excuse to escape her unhappy marriage. Her husband seems to not care about her and sees her as a possession and more importantly something he has and other men do not, giving him a higher status. In fact, she seems to strongly dislike him when she tells Lennie “ I’m glad you bust up Curley...he got it coming to him” It is therefore very significant that Steinbeck does not give her a name. This may also indicate an air of mystery about her and this highlights the element of danger that she represents to the men but most importantly, her lack of name reminds us of the culture in which Steinbeck was writing when men were more dominant and chauvinistic, enjoying a higher status than the women. Does this seem to suggest that she does not have a separate, individual identity apart from being Curley’s wife? This could make her appear one dimensional at the beginning until we learn more about her life.
As the novel progresses we learn more about her dreams about escaping from the narrow life in this small town of salinas and becoming a film star. She longs to have a carefree lifestyle consisting of being pampered, wearing pretty dresses and most importantly being admired.
Ironically, it is to lennie that she pours out her heart, the only man on the ranch who can not really understand her situation.
Initially, in the novel, Curley’s wife is seen as the possession of her husband and no name is given to her.
