How Does Steinbeck Present Curley's Wife

Steinbeck uses the fact that Curley’s wife is the only female of the ranch to post her as a threat to the male ranch workers. When she is first introduced it isn’t pleasant. Candy starts of by saying ‘I seen her give slim the eye’ this instantly gives the reader an idea she is a bit flirtatious. He then continues to say ‘Well, I think Curley’s married…a tart.’ This gives the reader a view of her characteristics and we are put off by them. When we finally meet Curley’s wife for the first time she is in the barn doorway with Lennie and George. ‘A girl was stood in the doorway. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton
house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. Her voice had a nasal, brittle quality.’ This highlights the fact of her sexual presence as the colour red. Also the colour red proposes love and passion. Back when ‘Of mice and men’ was written mules would have been quite expensive and to wear them on a muddy ranch it is obvious she is trying to impress the male occupants by showing them of. Suddenly the novel jumps to how she presents herself. ‘Her body was thrown forward.’ This could indicate that she is quite provocative and wants attention. The description of the character backs up Candy’s interpretation of her and makes us feel prejudiced against her. All of this gives us a bad impression of what might happen in the near future. Steinbeck uses the technique of foreshadowing to do this.
George has a very different approach towards Curley’s wife than Lennie.
George is instantly put off by her presence and tries to avoid her. He shows no attention towards her, which is what she is after and does not acknowledge her. George uses a snappy tone of voice to reply to her. ‘George said brusquely “Well, he ain’t now.”’ This shows he is not interested in her and doesn’t want to engage into a conversation with her. Lennie on the other hand is intrigued by her existence and cannot take his eyes of her. ‘Lennie’s eyes moved down over her body.’ This can easily cause trouble and threaten Lennie’s career. He is already taking notice of Curley’s wife, and as we have previously noticed when Lennie is intrigued in something he doesn’t give up. For example the Lady in leads in the red dress and also the mice. Taking all things into consideration, the colour red seems to be common in the story. We are able to see that something may go wrong involving Lennie and Curley’s wife. This could post as a threat to Lennie, as if something were to happen to Curley’s wife, Curley would get involved and Lennie would be in serious trouble. It could also threaten George’s career as Lennie needs George. George and Lennie are close and this could indicate if Lennie had to go George would also go to protect
Lennie.
Curley’s wife doesn’t have possession of a name. The fact she is referred to as Curley’s wife highlights the fact she is owned by Curley. She is not her own person and is labelled. She is Curley’s property and if anything were to happen to something own by Curley, wife or not, he wouldn’t like it; he wouldn’t take the correct approach towards it. It also shows how the American society was in the 1930’s. Everyone was labelled. Girls were seen as a Wife, nothing more. They had no meaning.
During the period in Crookes room we are able to see a different, more vicious side of Curley’s wife.
When Curley’s wife walks into Crookes room, most of the males are accompanying Crooks. Curley’s wife first starts by saying about the male occupants are towards her. ‘If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk.’ She is implying she gets attention normally, but the males are scared to show attraction towards her when they are together because it could jeopardise their status on the Ranch or their job. Moving on, Curley’s wife uses racial context as an attempt to threaten Crookes. She called him a , this could off come across as highly offensive and daring, because Crookes had probably been called that before, he let it slip. Again this is proof of the certain grouping during the 1930’s. Curley's wife threatened to have Crooks lynched because he wasn't being polite and asked her to leave his room because he didn’t want trouble. Using lynched could off made him scared because of his class. He would already have a reputation and could lose his job. She fiercely said "you know what I could do", making fear for his life. Again another act of aggression that could ruin any chance of his
life. Finally, when she is in the barn with Lennie, she starts to become personal about herself and opening up to Lennie. Curley’s wife feels like she can open up to Lennie as he is forgetful, and will probably forget about everything she says. Even if he doesn’t, the male occupants will just think it is all lies. She is taking advantage of the fact Lennie is mentally disabled. ‘I get lonely…I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.’ Curley’s wife mentions she cannot talk to anybody but Curley, or he’ll get mad. Maybe not just at her but at the male she is speaking to. This shows Curley could do something to hurt somebody, for speaking to his wife. Lennie later says ‘If George sees me talkin’ to you he’ll give me hell,’ ‘he tol’ me so.’ Curley’s wife replies ‘what’s the matter with me?’ She becomes defensive towards Lennie. After she calms down, she starts to talk to Lennie about her past. ‘Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he go back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it…I never got the letter…I always though my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters…So I married Curley’ From this piece of text we can summarise that she might of only married Curley in spite of what she claims her Mother had done to her. The reason she flirts with the other men on the ranch is because she doesn’t know what love is. She is only 15/16 and has only known Curley 3/4 weeks. She hasn’t a mother to teach her how to grow up and to become a young woman. So she tries to find love and compassion in somebody else. This starts to change our views of Curley’s wife. She starts to come off as very insensitive and broken. As she opens up more and more we start to become sorry for her and can understand why she is the way she is. Gradually Curley’s wife starts to become more flirtatious towards Lennie. ‘She looked up at Lennie, and she made a small grand gesture with her arm and hand to show that she could act. The fingers trailed after her leading wrist, and her little finger stuck out grandly from the rest.’ This could lead to danger. Lennie becomes immediately interested in her gestures and body presence.
Drastically, Lennie becomes comforting. ‘He moved cautiously close to her, until he was right against her.’ Lennie starts to invade her personal space. She soon becomes aware and moves away. Curley’s wife makes a false move by placing Lennie’s hand on her hair to stroke it. We know from past experiences that something always goes wrong when Lennie strokes something. E.g, The mice; Woman in the red dress in leads; The puppy. We are beginning to feel something bad might happen to Curley’s wife now. Curley’s wife begins to feel uncomfortable and asks Lennie to stop. ‘You stop it now, you’ll mess it all up’. Lennie started to grip her hair. ‘Let go… you let go’ Curley’s wife begins to feel protective of herself, and vulnerable so she screams. Lennie covered his hand over her mouth cutting her lifeless. ‘She screamed then, and Lennie’s other hand closed over her mouth and nose’. Curley’s wife is now dead. Lennie killed her. As I mentioned previously, Curley’s wife didn’t have possession as a name and was merely referred to as the property of Curley. Now, as something drastic has now happened to her, it is threat to Lennie and he is in massive trouble. This concludes my essay.