‘Yeah. Purty… but … George studied his cards. But what? Well-she got the eye.’ Candy states this to George in their conversations whilst playing cards with each other. Candy is trying to say that Curley’s wife is pretty but looks at other men in the Ranch. This is amazing because it had only been two weeks since she had gotten married to Curley. She looks at other men who have nothing to offer her, Curley has more then any other man in the ranch, money wise. Some people do look at other Men or Women after they are married but they do not make it so obvious. This is this first time Curley's Wife is described in the story to us in the story and this is the image we have of her know, and it will not change until more is told about her.
In the same Conversation Candy also says ‘I seen her give slim the eye, I seen her give Carlson the eye.’ This backs what he said about her before. Curley’s wife is willing to do this and do it very openly. This shows us the reader what she feels about her marriage with Curley. She is willing to loose this just for Slim who has nothing to offer her and also Candy. I think that is she did not marry Curley she would not have no respect what so ever in the ranch if she was there married to one of the other men. I also think that she does not really like Curley and his personality, then again who does?
Through out the story the writer we only hear ‘Curley’s Wife’ whenever the writer refers to her. Through out the entire story we never hear a name, this shows the reader how insignificant she is in this story. By calling her Curley’s Wife through out the story makes her sound like one of Curley’s possessions. Curley’s wife is just known as Curley’s wife and nothing else no one else has got to know her better. She is not respected by others for who she is but she is respected for who she is married to.
‘well, I think Curley’s married … a tart.’ This is George’s perspective on Curley’s wife and by know the reader has about the same opinion so right to the end of the story they are kept with this image of Curley’s wife until the conversation with Lennie right at the end. Up to this point in the story we have only seen other people views on Curley’s wife but we have not heard any thing from her about her self.
‘An’ if Curley gets tough, you can break his other han’. Curley’s wife said this right at the beginning of her last conversation with Lennie. This shows exactly how much she likes Curley. If she even liked Curley a bit she would not even think about saying this to anyone but she does and this shows the extent of hatred for Curley and his personality. If she feels this way with her husband I do not think that she would be too comfortable speaking to him. If she could not speak to her own husband who would she be able to speak too. So this makes her really lonely. I think that if she could wish for anything she would wish for having someone who she could talk to when ever she likes.
‘Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ This is what Curley’s wife goes on to say in the conversation with Lennie. This backs what I have said about her getting very lonely. I think
if she was not married to Curley she would not have become so lonely because everyone stays out of his way due to his personality and his relationship with the Boss.
‘He says he was gonna put me in the movies.’ Curley’s wife says this to Lennie when she starts to open up to him. She tries to impress him by saying this. This was probably the only highlight of her life. She had the glimmer of hope of making something out of her self. She never did get a reply from the man who said he could get her into the movies. She thinks that her mother had hidden the letter and not given to her. So to get back to her mother she goes and marries Curley. She meats him on the same night, this in a way proves that she did it too get back at her mother.
‘So I married Curley.’ this proves what I have said because she says this straight after she tells us that her mother said that she had not stolen the letter that she had been expecting.
Like most of the others in the story Curley’s wife had hers dreams which did not come true. Her dream was to be in the movies and have nice clothes to wear but like all of the others in the story her dreams do not come true.
‘Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes – all of them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me.’ This was her dream which never came true. I my self do not think that the man who said that he could get her into the movies was telling the truth, I think he was after something else, but I could be wrong this is my opinion on the matter. This is another tragic moment in her life when she is not going for her dream and instead she went and married Curley who she does not even like. She is willing to waste her whole life just too spite her mother.
‘I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.’ This is where she openly confides to Lennie. This backs what I said about her thoughts on Curley. I think that the only thing she saw in Curley was his money and the authority that he possessed.
Crooks is anther character out of the ever so many in this book who is very lonely and does not have no one too talk too. This is mainly because of him being black, he is the center of racial abuse at the ranch. In the book the first we read of him is when the Boss is angry and he takes it all out on Crooks because he is black. Now a day this would be utterly unacceptable, but in those times it was a normal occurrence. He is not allowed to enter the bunkhouse but he is allowed to come out of his room when the other men are playing games. He was aloud into the bunkhouse on Christmas once but at the end ended up the one getting beaten up. Crooks is an isolated character in this story because most of his life has been wasted being beaten up and just becoming more and lonelier in his room. I think that Crooks is jealous of the friendship between George and Lennie, when Lennie enters his room they get talking. This was when George had gone out with the boys and Lennie was all alone so decided to go to crooks room. Crooks started to stay what if George never came back, he teased him because of his jealousy. Out of all of the characters in the story he is the only one who had a good upbringing, his family had their own farm, white children even used to go and play in his farm. This was very amazing in those days because of all of the segregation. I think that his life has been wasted and therefore this is an example of another ‘tragic figure’ in the story.
Candy is another character with in the story that is extremely lonely, he is the bunkhouse cleaner, otherwise known as the Swamper. Candy has a good nature unlike Curley or his dad the Boss. He is the person who provided with the gossip to George when he arrived on the ranch. He knows what is going on around in the ranch. He is an old man and I think the main reason for him to be in the story is so he is able to set the scene. He is the one who was talking about Curley’s Wife and then a bit later she appeared. I also think the John Steinbeck put him in the story so the reader gets an image of what an old man would be on the ranch. Candy is in with the Dream with Lennie and George. This is the closest they ever been to their dream because Candy has some money saved up. Candy wants to get out of the ranch because like his dog he was old. His dog was put down because he was old and ill. He is worried that when he becomes older they are going to chuck him out of the ranch. So he really wants the dream to go on, so he knows that he has a safe future. These hopes have been both spoilt for both George and Candy because of Lennie’s actions. Once again candy who is uncertain of his future and is really devastated that they could not get their own place. This is an example of another tragic figure within the story.
The character of Curley’s wife can be regarded as tragic and she is not the only one, in fact in this whole story there is not even one character who is not a tragic one. This shows how hard life was in those days with the great depression and the segregation. No one in the whole of the story had reached their dreams. So on the whole I think that the whole of the story was a tragic story. Especially because of the waste of Curley’s wife’s life and George in the end having to kill Lennie, Candy being uncertain of his future once again. No one in the story has come out pleased of what he has accomplished or achieved.
