In the novel the way Curley’s wife behaves is often presented as flirtatious. This is because Curley’s wife loneliness has altered her demeanor towards other tremendously, making her obviously insecure and excessively flirtatious. Curley’s wife has become practically another person because of her loneliness. The men on the ranch try to avoid her because of flirtatious personality to keep out of trouble. No one on the ranch really understands her situation and how just loneliness affects her. Her insecurity is evident by the way she dresses and utilizes herself. She sometimes uses her appearance as the only female on the ranch to receive attention. This is clearly shown when Curley’s wife was first introduced in the novel and she went to go looking for Curley and saw Lennie and George in the bunk house. Her body language is provocative as she positions herself in the doorway so that ‘her body thrown forward’. She smiles ‘archly’ and ‘twitched her body’. This shows that Curley’s wife wants the attention of men.
It is obvious that the relationship that Curley and Curley’s wife have is not that good. Often Curley’s wife acts as she is forced to get married to Curley and has no other choice but to stay with Curley on the ranch. This clearly shows when Curley’s wife was talking to Lennie about her life saying ‘I don’t like Curley’. Therefore Curley’s wife clearly regrets getting married to Curley in the first place because Curley’s wife also has dreams and ambitions like many other people on the ranch. However Curley’s wife might not many things in life but all she ever wanted was a loving husband unlike Curley who does not give her love and affection that she desires. In the novel Curley’s wife real dream was to become a movie star however her dream was shattered because end up marrying Curley instead of making her dream come true. Curley’s wife also says that ‘Sure I gotta husband you all seen him small guy aint he?’ Curley’s wife here is being sarcastic clearly showing that she is not happy with the relationship that she has with Curley. Since Curley is the boss’s son and who is also know as a vicious bully who picks on many people on the ranch he obviously has power over a lot people; including his own wife. Curley clearly has a lot of power of his wife and dislikes it his wife is somewhere she shouldn’t be. This is clearly shown when Curley’s wife seeks out the friendship of Lennie and she seems to be ‘apprehensive’.
The attitude of other people on ranch to Curley’s wife is undoubtedly that the men on the ranch try to avoid her because of flirtatious personality to keep out of trouble. This is because she is the only female on the ranch and half of the men rarely get a chance to see females and the ones they see are when they go into town to a ‘whore-house’. This shows the men’s stereotypical view on women as a ‘whore’. Most of the time Curley’s wife is always complaining that she is lonely and sometimes says ‘I never get to talk to anyone. I get awful lonely.’ This evidently shows that that being the only female leaves her with lack of companionship, especially with the other characters attitudes towards her. However the way that she is; when she knows that both Lennie and George are new she shamelessly go flirts with both of the men. George however denies her attempts and knows that Curley’s wife will bring Lennie and George trouble. As a result he tries to avoid her and is occasionally warning Lennie to stay away from Curley’s wife. George also knows the Lennie can be seduced easily by the things that he passions for and when Lennie sees Curley’s wife he knows that Lennie is attracted to her. When the other men are aware of Curley’s wife and tries to avoid her Slim however knows that she is trouble but he’s probably the only one who actually nice to her unlike the other men. This is noticeably shown when Curley’s wife was found dead in the barn he was the only man who dared to have physical contact and touch her to check if she was ok.
Not only does Steinbeck present as a girl who is always seeking attention from the other men she is also presented as a cruel and she has a mean steak. This is because once again she is lonely and she knows that the men on the ranch dislike. As results she picks on the one that she knows is weaker than her, which that happens to be Crooks. Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, he works as stable worker and he is physically handicap. Curley’s wife seeing him as a stable worker and black she knows that she can take over him. This is because she knows that Crooks doesn’t dare to do anything to her like the other men on the ranch. This is shown when Curely’s wife went into the barn on the night where most of men went into town; she shouted ‘Keep your place nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree’. This clearly shows that Curley’s wife is racist towards people that are weaker than her. Also it might be that both Crooks and Curley’s wife are both lonely and Curley’s wife who is frustrated because she overwhelmed by her loneliness so she tries to let it all out on Crooks.
Like many young girls who still have bright future, Curley’s wife still holds some small hope of a better life, claming that she had the chance to become a movie star in Hollywood. This is shown when she was having a conversation with Lennie in the barn, she says ‘Coulda been in the movies and had nice clothes, coulda sat in them big hotels’. This shows that Curley’s wife has dreamt for many years seeing herself as a potential film-star. She was tricked by a man at saying that she was a natural and that he put her into the movies. He said that he would write back however she never received that letter and her naiveté shows in her belief that her mother has stolen a letter (from her ‘contact’ in Hollywood) which was obviously never written; her immaturity appears in her instant reaction of marrying the loathsome Curley.
Finally Curley’s wife end up dead because Lennie’s mistake, however when Curely’s wife was found dead her appearance was not the same. By this I mean when the men found her dead Steinbeck describe her by saying ‘and the meanness and the planning’s and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.’ This means that underneath all the flirtatious and provocative personality she also has an innocent and sweet side of her.
