Curley's Wife Character Analysis Essay

The character of Curley, a “thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair”, according to Candy is an amateur boxer and is always picking fights, especially with those men who are bigger than he is. The boss’ son in the ranch, Curley is depicted as malicious and threatening by Steinbeck, but yet also possesses some of the traits associated with an outsider- continually trying to prove his worth to those around him. He tries to reflect and ascertain his masculinity shown in his marriage to his physically attractive wife and by picking fights with the ranch workers. His wife is never given a name in the novel, but by calling her “Curley’s wife” Steinbeck indicates that she is his possession. Curley controls
Books aint no good. A guy needs someone- to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he's with you. I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, an' he gets sick." Crooks express his desire for company and the need he feels for someone to care for him and to provide security. These needs also parallel many of the outsider characters desires in the novel, particularly George and Lennie who remain in their close bonding friendship despite the difficulties it has brought
For example in the first chapter Steinbeck writes ‘A water-snake slipped along the pool, its head held up like a little periscope’ and in the books ending similarly writes ‘A water-snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side.’ This framed novel method strengthens the sense of the novel having come full circle. Just as in nature, where animals are born, live and die, so too do humans. Throughout the book, we have seen animal images used in connection to Lennie. Now, like Candy’s dog, Lennie is ‘put out of his misery’. Steinbeck chooses to finish his story in the same place that it started. The novella has shown us the brief life, and death, of one