How Is Curley's Wife Lonely

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It is human nature for someone to want to be around other people, and everyone has the common need to be loved, no matter who they are. However, isolation and loneliness are two circumstances that can prevent this ordinary desire. The reality of being apart from society can cause a person to think and act in a different way than others would. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character of Curley’s wife could frequently be described as promiscuous, but she really is longing for company and desperate for someone to talk to her. In the novel, Curley’s wife portrays being a“floozy” by the things she says to other characters, how she acts, and what other characters say about her. For example, when George and Lennie first meet Curley’s …show more content…

For example, when Curley’s wife comes into Crook’s room, she says, “‘Sat’day night. Everybody out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs’” (78). This shows us how Curley’s wife is truly longing for people just to talk to her. She feels like everyone's out doing something all the time but her, and she just wants to fit in with the crowd. The fact that Crooks, Lennie, and Candy are the only three left make her feel even more like an outsider. Curley’s wife is so desperate to talk to people that when her only options are an old man. a black man, and a mentally-ill man, she still engages and communicates. This proves how lonely she really is. Later on in the novel when Curley’s wife is talking with Lennie, she explains how “[she] get[s] lonely” and how “[she] can’t talk to nobody but Curley” (87). Curley’s wife flat out states that she gets lonely and feels abandoned all the time, because Curley is the only one who she is allowed to be around. Since they are married, all of the other men try to stay away from her on the ranch. She tells Lennie this because she feels rejected from all of the other guys but him, and Lennie is supposed to stay away from her too but he doesn’t know any better. Curley’s wife is truly desperate because the only one who would actually talk to her is Lennie, who is mentally impaired. When she and Lennie continue to talk in the barn she goes on to say how she “ain’t used to livin’ like this” and how “[she] coulda made somethin’ of [her]self” (88). Curley’s wife also asks why everyone treats her in a certain way. This explains how she once more is desperate and longing for friendship. She feels alone and even enraged that she has to live all by herself with only Curley. If she could, she would want to leave and have a new life with new opportunity. Asking Lennie what she has

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