HOW DOES STEINBECK PRESENT THE CHARACTER OF CURLEY’S WIFE?
Curley’s wife is one of the main characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and is heavily involved in the outcome of the story when George ends up shooting Lennie. She is a character that is talked about a lot by the other characters and is portrayed as a bit of a tart.
Curley’s wife is trying to get attention a lot of the time she appears in the book. Her first appearance shows us straight away that she wants to be looked at and that she is attention seeking, ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward’. Steinbeck uses the word ‘thrown’ to show that she was pushing her body forward on purpose, that she wanted people to look at her. It shows she was standing very noticeably like that as ‘thrown’ is a very bold word.
Curley’s wife may put across that she is very bold and confident but as the book goes on Steinbeck starts to show a weaker, more vulnerable side to her. She is shown as quite lonely which is why she goes and seeks male attention. She is putting on a mask. ‘ “I get lonely” ’ she doesn’t seem to be happy in her marriage with Curley and as there is no other female on the ranch, she has to dress to impress to get noticed.
Curley’s wife is very flirtatious throughout the book, this is mainly because she lives to impress other people, she has acted like someone else’s possession for so long that she feels that she needs to impress people all the time. ‘ “Nobody can’t blame someone for lookin’ ” ’ Also the fact that we never find out her name also shows that people see her as ‘Curley’s wife’ and not as her own person.
The Dissertation on Curley’s Wife- How Does Steinbeck Present Her in the Novella
... the trouble to come. Steinbeck then uses the noun: “a girl” to describe Curley’s wife. Steinbeck uses third person ... could be seen as a dark and dangerous character, ‘sunshine represents hope and she cuts this ... power status as Curley’s wife. Perhaps this show’s that she wants to be with people of power because ... door frame ‘so that her body was thrown forward’. This suggests she is provocative and uses ...
Curley’s wife is seen as a very dangerous character, especially for Lennie. If he meddles with her then he is bound to get himself into trouble, but she manipulates him anyway. ‘ “She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger” ’ this shows that she is always waiting to make her move, and as soon as she sees an opportunity, she will use it to cause trouble to keep herself entertained and to get attention. The word ‘jail’ shows us how dangerous she could be to anyone that crosses her path.
Curley’s wife is also quite defensive whenever people try to discriminate against her because of rumours they heard or just because she is a woman. ‘The girl flared up’ this shows that she is quick to defend herself and doesn’t want to be offended. The word ‘flared’ is a great word to use because it makes you visualise her face going red with anger as she hears what is being said about her.
When Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife, there are a lot of descriptions about how she looked. They describe as though, because she is dead, she is stripped from the mask she wore to show this vain, boisterous and confident woman when deep down she was just a lonely and innocent girl. ‘She was very pretty and simple and her face was sweet and young.’ This shows that now she couldn’t hide the small girl that she felt like, all her true emotions were being shown. ‘Sweet’ may seem an odd word to use about a woman like Curley’s wife who only seemed to go around causing trouble but it just emphasises how different she actually was to the person she portrayed herself as.
In conclusion, I think Curley’s wife was a lonely young woman who just wanted some attention as she was the only women on the ranch. She put on a mask for the sake of other people and she lived to please them and often didn’t think about how her flirtatious actions may have serious consequences, for example her death.
