Character Development of Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

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In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife may seem insignificant character because of her lack of identity. As Curley’s wife develops, we can see that she isn’t the unimportant character readers expect her to be but much more interesting and complex. Curleys wife is first mentioned by candy, sharing his exaggerated thoughts about her to George. Candy says that curley’s wife has ‘the eye’ and goes on to describe her flirtatious behavior, mentioning that she was a ‘tart’. Because of Candy’s description, the reader creates an initial perception that she is a flirtatious ‘tramp’. The word ‘tart’ makes the reader assume that she acts with exaggerated and undeserved importance. When the reader meets Curley’s wife, Curley’s wife seems to match Candy’s perception. The initial perception of Curley’s wife is exaggerated by her physical appearance. Her physical appearance of ‘full, rouged and wide-spaced eyes, heavily-made up’ builds on our impression of he. As well as her ‘fingernail painted red’ and structured hair shows that she thinks highly of herself. Also, she uses inappropriate body language, positioning her body so that ‘her body was thrown forward.” She made the excuse of ‘looking for Curley’ even though she knew where he was, just to start conversations. She believes that the only way to receive attention is through her sexuality. This is evidenced by her hair, makeup and the way she dresses. Candy’s perceptive is accurate through the reader’s first encounter with her. Contradicting Candy’s perspective, Curley’s wife’s appearance could be viewed as innocent because of the ‘wide-eye’ description. Curley’s wife had a choice of wearing red and dressing up which can be assumed as a mask to hide her true innocent persona... ... middle of paper ... ...s had ‘gone’ from her face. She was indeed very pretty, as her face was ‘sweet and young’ Her body, as mentioned, being ‘flopped like a fish’ shows death. The description of ‘half-covering’ would suggest to the the readers that the workers only knew half of her. The color ‘yellow’ does represent life which is ironic because she died. Adding ‘very pretty and simple’ suggest that the mens’ interpretations of her were completely opposite to what she truly was which also links to the ‘half-covering’. Her being ‘pretty’ shows that she didn’t need to wear makeup and that she was simple and beautiful naturally. This description shows the young, innocent lady that she is but with society and men, she significantly changed. In Of Mice and Men, the thought to be insignificant character had developed from a ‘tramp’ to a more complex character with a misunderstood personality.

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