Impressions of Curely's Wife in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Curley’s wife had no friends. She lived on a ranch flooding with men, so she was always alone. All she wanted to do was talk to someone, but Curley forbid it. Curley’s wife says, “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like to not talk to anybody (page 87).” The men on the ranch misunderstood her and her feelings. They figured she would come around to start trouble.

Being Curley’s wife was difficult for her for many reasons. The first one is how she is seen by other men. Curley’s wife is mainly seen as a sexual object that flirts with other men and is unfaithful by looking at men in a way that is frowned upon for married women. They see her as desperate for being noticed and for attention. This quote explains what the men think of her. “I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin' all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye.” Her appearance comes off as needy and desperate. Another quote demonstrates this as well. Her face grew angry. "Wha's the matter with me?" she cried. "Ain't I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways? You're a nice guy. I don't know why I can't talk to you.” She knows how the see her and is mad because of how they judge her.The second reason is how she wanted her future to be.

Considering this, it is quite ironic that this could all be resolved if she was not lonely. Assuming you have read the novel, you would know that Curley is quite possessive and controlling over his wife. This fact, coupled with the fact that Curley is the boss’s son, leads the men to avoid her. Unfortunately, this causes to have either an unsatisfactory or complete lack of relationship with everyone, including her own husband. Curley’s wife sarcastically says that Curley is a “swell guy” (Steinbeck 78), showing her resent toward her husband.

Curleys wife -Curley 's wife 's loneliness has altered her demeanor towards others tremendously, making her overtly insecure and excessively flirtatious. Curley 's wife has become virtually another person because of loneliness. The men on the ranch avoid her because of flirtatious personality to keep out of trouble. No one understands her situation and how loneliness affects her. Her insecurity is evident by the way she dresses and utilizes her make-up. She uses her appearance to receive attention like when "[Curley 's Wife] was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters,

None of the guys really take time to understand why she acts as the way she does and they continuously judge her. In chapter 4 of the novel, I concluded that she is kind of always on the lonely side. On page {78}of the novel she states that her husband barely pays any attention to her and doesn't show her the affection that she would like. “Spends all his time sayin’ what he's gonna do to the guys he don't like, and he don't like nobody. Think I'm gonna stay in that two-by four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twilit, an then bring in the Ol one-two an’ he’ll go down”. Although it seems like Steinbeck is showing sympathy for Curley’s wife character, all the torture she makes the men on the ranch go through would never be right. Her character plays such a big role in the novel, which I believe makes the novel, continuously interesting. She is

Curleys wife is provocative with her body language as she is described to have “put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” and “she looked at her fingernails”, she is very conscious of the affect she has on men and uses this to her advantage however her inappropriate clothes and her behavior I think are designed to provoke interest and attention rather than to invite intimacy, we later learn this is because of her loneliness in her marriage to Curley. Her loneliness is clear by her constant asking of the whereabouts of Curley proving she is just looking for an excuse to continue her conversation with the ranch workers.

Through her actions, Curley's Wife shows that she is lonely. Curley's Wife says to the men, "I'm lookin' for Curley" (Steinbeck 31). This quote represents that Curley's Wife is trying to be evasive, saying that she is searching for her husband but what she really demands is attention. In the barn with Lennie it appears that she needs companionship when she is sharing with him about her past. Curley's Wife talks about how she could be in the movies (Steinbeck 88). This passage suggests that she is sad that there aren't a lot of people around her because that is what it could be like if she was in the movies. Through the words about her husband Curley, she shows she needs companionship. She discloses that she doesn’t like Curley because he doesn’t let her talk to anyone but him (Steinbeck 87). This quote proposes that Curley isn't a very favorable companion because he isn't likeable and he doesn’t let her converse with anyone. During the novel Curley's Wife shows she is lonely and needs companionship through her feelings, her actions, and other

Curley’s wife is first described by Candy in chapter two. Candy and George were in the bunkhouse talking about Curley. The conversation got around to how Curley keeps his hand in a glove full of Vaseline for his wife. Candy goes on to talk about her. He describes her by saying that “she’s got the eye” (28). When Candy says this it means that she wants the attention of men so she flirts and dresses provocatively. Candy continues saying, “I seen her give Slim the eye… an’ I seen her give Carlson the eye”. This proves that Curley’s wife is a flirt because despite being married to Curley she still tries to get the attention of other men. Similarly, the way Curley’s wife dresses contributes to her seductive behaviour. Every time she makes an appearance in the novel she is wearing a dress with her hair curled and heavy makeup on her face. For instance, when Curley’s wife finds Lennie in the barn with his dead pup, she “wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with the red ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and the little sausage curls were all in place” (86). The way Curley’s wife dresses up and does her makeup even when she’s not going anywhere or with Curley shows her provocative actions. Through these examples, it is obvious that Curley’s wife tries to be seductive.

Curley's wife's loneliness has altered the way she is towards others, making her very flirtatious. The men on the ranch avoid her because of flirtatious personality to keep out of trouble. No one understands her situation and how loneliness affects her. Her insecurity is easily seen by the way she dresses and wears her make-up. She uses her appearance to receive attention like when "Curley's Wife was standing there looking in. 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 housedress and red mules, on the steps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers." Curley's Wife feels she must dress this way for people to notice her and give her attention. Her dressing-up is unnecessary because they live on a farm and this is not the typical or practical clothing. The way she dresses proves her insecurity and her lack of confidence. Curley's Wife dresses inappropriately along with acting in flirtatious ways. This is another attempt for the attention she

To get to know someone, one has to look beyond his or her appearance. A person can look bold and confident from the outside but actually suffers from sadness. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the character of Curley’s wife as she copes with loneliness by attracting the attention of the men on the farm. Throughout the novella, she makes three appearances, the Bunkhouse, Crook’s Room, and the Barn and with each appearance, she slowly reveals her identity to the readers. Looks can be deceiving and even though she shows herself one way does not mean that it is her true self.

Curley's wife proves to be a flirtatious character in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. She is the only woman on the ranch and uses her beauty as power to flirt with the guys on the ranch and make her husband jealous. The other guys on the ranch know that she is trouble and refer to her as “jailbait” or “tart” because of the way she dresses and acts to attract attention from all of the guys. Although she is known as trouble on the ranch, she talks a lot about how she was offered to be in the shows, but that dream was crushed by her mother who said that she was too young. During the time this novel was written, women were not well respected and this explains her behaviour throughout the story. Over all, Curley's wife demonstrates to be a tempting, good looking, yet lonely women who often uses her looks to get what she wants.

Curley is very possessive of her, as if she is something that belongs to him but that everyone else desires. Curley wants the men on the ranch to know that he has something valuable that they aren’t allowed to have. Because Curley’s wife is so lonely, she is always seeking attention and putting a lot of effort into her appearance. Steinbeck writes, “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.” (31) Her over the top looks portrays her desperation to be noticed. Curley also restricts her from from socializing with the other ranch men, which makes her have no friends. She is unable to make any connections with the men on the ranch because everyone knows that if they talk to her, it will end up causing trouble with Curley, something every rancher is desperate to avoid. Since nobody seems to want to talk to Curley’s wife the loneliness makes her doubtful about herself. “What’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 85). Steinbeck wants us to acknowledge loneliness and realize that sometimes people can be together and yet still be

The men on the ranch avoid Curley’s wife as much as they can. They don’t want to lose their jobs just because Curley doesn’t like them. When Curley’s wife

Curley’s wife, on the other hand, is not insecure, but suffers from ostracism and isolation because she is a married woman. Michael Meyer points out, “…the hardship for a woman to live on the ranch as presented in the novel should not be ignored”. Curley’s wife only wants someone to talk with her, but the men on the ranch mistake her trying to start conversations as sexual advances: “I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody… I don’t know what the hell she wants” (Steinbeck 51). They also ridicule her, calling her a

Curley likes to think he owns his wife and that he should tell her what she can and can't do and consequently this is what makes her another very lonely character. If she tries to talk to the ranchmen they ignore her, because they fear Curley and she has no female friends so she is very isolated. His wife is never given a name in the book and is constantly referred to as "Curleys wife"; this for me makes an important and bold statement to the reader. Steinbeck shows how lonely she is, as she is never given a name it shows that no one thinks of her as a friend, but more of an object. She shouldn't really be as lonely as she is because she has a husband, but still she has no real friends. She has no real grip on life and lives in two completely different worlds. In reality she lives in an old ranch surrounded by ranchmen with no friends or companions to communicate with. However she longs and truly believes she can be a film star. She once told Lennie