How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife

Curley’s wife is also another character who would very happily settle for the attentive ear of a stranger. She admits to Lennie that she is unhappily married when she says “I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought to. I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella”. In fact the only reason why she married him was to rebel against her mother as she thought that her mother hid the letter that would’ve led her to her dream of being a famous movie star. As well as crooks, Curley’s wife also links her dreams to her loneliness because if she had followed through with her dreams then she never would’ve ended up lonely with no one to talk to as her husband doesn’t. Instead she hangs around the bunkhouse seeking attention or someone to provoke
just so she can have some excitement. After she had already married Curley and her dream of becoming a superstar went downhill, she turned to a different dream of achieving friendship, however this was impossible as her husband would forbid her from talking to them and nobody would talk to her as they don’t want to get into trouble.
Candy is a character desperate for companionship.
This is shown when he jumps in on the dream with Lennie and George after his life companion, his dog, died. ‘Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup’. He is an old ranch worker who now cleans the ranch up, he only has one hand because the other was lost in an accident. His disability isolates him from the other characters on the ranch. His best friend is an old sheep dog, who like himself is unable to work because he is old and smelly and is thought to be hopeless. The death of Candy’s dog symbolises the harsh reality that once a person is unable to work they have no future on the ranch. Curley is an old man that didn’t have much use as he was one-handed and his dog was the only thing he had and kept him sane and happy. He was paranoid that he would be sacked as his hand was broken and he couldn’t do much for the ranch so he desperately needed someone with him to keep him sane through all this unhappiness. He was desperate to have something to depend on and whole life into, which is why he joined Lennie’s dream and was willing to put his whole life savings in. Until its death, Candy’s dog stopped him from feeling alone in the world. After its death Candy struggles with loneliness by sharing in George and Lennie’s
dream.
Along with the themes presented in the book, there are also major attitudes presented like the attitudes towards women.
Throughout the whole book Steinbeck deliberately marginalized women, with the only female to make an appearance in the book being Curley’s wife, and she is not even dignified enough to have a name. This is perhaps based on the fact that women in 1930s America often weren’t as important as men. Two examples of the types of women that appear or are described in the book are “Aunt Clara”, portrayed as the domestic hero and noble housewife women at the time were generally expected to become – then, Curley’s wife being an example, there is also those who have failed to become the above, and hence are instead dismissed as a “tart” or “jailbait” by the ranch hands. Steinbeck’s representation of attitudes towards women in 1930s America is therefore quite disturbing because they are always either a housewife, a prostitute, or somewhere on the line
between.
Ultimately however, the world is too much of a harsh and predatory place to attain a relationship like George and Lennie’s, who come closest to an unfeasible brotherhood but are forced to tragically separate. Steinbeck reinforces the theme of loneliness in subtle and not so subtle ways. In the vicinity of the ranch, for example, is the town of Soledad. The town’s name, not accidently, means ‘solitude’ or ‘alone’. Also the others’ reaction to George and Lennie travelling together is unusual as this friendship seems strange because the relationship is not sexual nor financially exploitive.