Curly's Wife

Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937 and was published also in 1937. The novella is set in 1940’s America a time when the rights of women were very different to what they are now. Of Mice and Men is a story about George Milton and Lennie Small, two itinerant farm labourers. They are travelling from a ranch in Weed to another ranch in Soledad. They had to leave the ranch in Weed because Lennie, who isn’t the sharpest knife in the draw, went to feel a women’s red dress and she went screaming to the ranch owner that Lennie was trying to rape her. Once the protagonists George and Lennie arrive at the ranch in Soledad they meet Curley, the boss’s son, Candy, the swamper, and lots of other male ranch workers. They also meet Curley’s wife, the only female on the ranch. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife to us by describing to us as the reader her appearance and body language, what she says and how she says it. He also shows us what other characters think of her threw their responses to her and what they say about her. The character of Curley’s wife doesn’t change in the book however our opinion of her chances as the book goes on and we learn more about her.
When we first meet Curley’s wife in person have already been predispositioned to think that Curley’s wife is ‘a tart’ by Candy. However when we do meet her, her appearance and body language simply backs up what we have already been leaded to believe. Steinbeck describes her as having ‘full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes [...] little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’ The makes us as the reader fell that are earlier opinion of her was correct and that she is ‘a tart’ as wearing ‘red mules’ is highly impractical, and clearly to gain male attention as the dusty ground of a ranch would be hard to walk on in high heels. In the quote previous there is also a constant reference to the word ‘red’ or ‘rouged’ this could be foreshadowing as ‘red’ is he colour of danger thus hinting that