How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife

On first reading it, Curley’s wife is presented as an antagonist, as a dream destroyer, the story its self is set during the “Great Depression”, where dreams were usually destroyed, The Great Depression was an extremely miserable time during the 1930’s, it made average people (such as the guys in the ranch and Curley’s wife) impossible to fulfill their dreams. Curley’s wife, was a lot of things, but mainly misunderstood. Similar to all the men on the ranch, she was unable to fulfill her dream, all her hopes for her dreams were shattered at a young age. There is more to Curley’s wife, she cannot make a good impact on anything, so she makes a bad one.

On first appearances of the character, when she talks to, George and Lennie in the barn, she gives off the impression that she is a “Troublemaker” and a bit “Tarty”, her body language is intentionally provocative this is shown when she displays her body in a confident way when
‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?’ She always just wants some company and never understands just why nobody would speak with her. She is young, and probably never meant to appear ‘a tramp' or ‘a tart'. She simply has nothing to do and nobody to talk to. She can put two and two together. She realises her husband has no respect for her. ‘Think I don’t know where they all went? Even Curley. I know where they all went.' On the Saturday night, Curley had gone to a brothel with some of the other men who worked on the ranch. Just his absence alone gives us the impression that their marriage lacks love and intimacy. This makes you sympathise with her more, as she is young, beautiful and full of life and her husband still chooses other women over her which surely must make her feel worthless and self-doubting as well as lowering her