Analysis Of Curley's Wife In Of Mice And Men

In “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as a symbol of isolation due to her gender which isolates her from the men on the ranch. Steinbeck skilfully portrays her physical features and her personality through the depictions of her face and her body language. She is described as a “tart” by Candy, “tramp” and “jailbait” by George. Through implying her overuse of makeup and looking less moral, Steinbeck creates a link between why she’s not attractive to the men in the ranch and the level of her isolation. Curley’s wife is a major female character in “Of Mice and Men”, but she is not given a name, suggesting that she is not respected by anyone in the ranch. Steinbeck intends to illustrate Curley’s wife as a "whore" with full “rouged” lips, “heavy” make up and

“red” nails. She is portrayed as wearing “red mules” with ostrich feathers. The noun “whore” is usually used to describe prostitutes but it is used here by Steinbeck to portray the only isolated woman in the ranch. The adjective “heavy” connotes that Curley’s wife’s level of isolation is very intense, hence being too “heavy” for her to express, implying that although she dresses herself up very flirtatiously, no men in the ranch would like to talk to her, she is unwelcomed. The adjective “red” symbolizes danger. Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as a danger to Lennie, a man who is fascinated by her and cannot take his eyes off her. “I don’t care what she says and what she does, I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.” is indicated by George. The colour “red” is a bright colour, implies her hidden desire to get the men on the ranch to talk to her and her will to get attention by contrastingly, on a more positive note signifies that Curley’s wife likes promoting her femininity and echoes her dream to be a Hollywood star. Moreover, Steinbeck illustrates Curley’s wife’s body language as “she puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.” and “She stood still in the door way, smiling a little at them.” They imply that she is confident with her body figure that she wishes to attract men even though she is married. This suggests that beauty is her only power. She is “apprehensive” when Slim tells her that Curley is going home. The adjective “apprehensive” suggests her worry at the moment, but it also enhances the level of isolation she suffers from by depicting Curley’s controlling personality. In addition, Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as a lonely woman by “I never get to talk to nobody.

I get awful lonely.” and “I get lonely. You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.” He is suggesting here that she is actually quite jealous of Lennie who gets freedom to do whatever he wants. Curley is quite controlling so she doesn’t get to talk to anybody. Steinbeck examines the effect of isolation through describing Curley’s wife’s internal feelings. Finally, he illustrates Curley’s wife’s innocence in her death, for instance, “Curley's wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.” He tries to reveal the humanity of Curley’s wife here, even though she is portrayed as a materialistic person before. “He says he was gonna put me in the movies.” and “I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself” reveal Curley’s wife as a person who wants to be famous to getting money, possessions and fame. The inability to achieve her dreams makes her even more

isolated.