Curley’s wife is first introduced in section two; ‘both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in’. Sunshine relates to hopes, happiness and freedom, which most of the ranch workers seek. Steinbeck foreshadows she will ruin this by using ‘cut off’ which shows she will be the reason why the ranch workers dreams will be ruined, which she is. She seduces Lennie resulting in her death, which means the characters Lennie George and candy cannot fulfil their dream because everybody wants to kill Lennie. This shows the reader she is a troublesome character. She is described as a girl rather than a lady due to the fact she is playful and flirty like a girl. Steinbeck shows she is looking in because she is searching for something. Attention. This also shows she is an outsider because she’s not involved, just merely lonely on the outside, desperately wanting to be involved.
Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife as a tart by using ‘she had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up’. The phrase ‘rouged lips’ shows she has intentionally made her lips bold so the other ranch workers will notice this. The colour relates to danger which foreshadows that she is a dangerous character because Lennie got into trouble because of a girl in weed with a red dress and Curley’s wife eventually gets Lennie killed. Red is a seductive colour and she seduces Lennie. Steinbeck uses ‘heavily made up’ to show she has made an effort to be noticed which automatically makes the reader sense she is a sexually seductive character. Steinbeck shows she is