Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Analysis

Everyone feels lonely at some point in their life. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, many characters are written as to feel loneliness. Curley’s wife acts flirtatious and misunderstood. Curley’s wife is flirtatious and misunderstood which correlates with the book’s theme, loneliness.
The ranch hands perceive Curley’s wife as flirtatious. When she is introduced, she is immediately flirting with George and Lennie. Steinbeck writes “‘Oh’ She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.’You’re the new fellas that just come, ain’t ya?’”31. It seems as if even though Curley’s wife hasn’t even met George or Lennie, she flirts with them for attention. It is even obvious to

George and Lennie that she is being flirty, despite having a husband. Curley’s wife is flirtatious, but she is also misunderstood.
Curley’s wife’s dream is to be an actress, but she has speculation that her mom prevented her from being an actress.

When Curley’s wife is telling Lennie about her dream to be an actress, she seems misunderstood. Steinbeck writes, “‘He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.’ She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him. ‘I never got that letter,’ she said. ‘I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.’” 88. As she tells her “life story”, she looks at Lennie to see if he was impressed. She only married Curley to get away from her mom. She clearly states that she doesn’t want to be with Curley. Hence why she always tried to get attention from the other farm hands. Curley’s wife is flirtatious and misunderstood, which proves that the theme of Of Mice and Men is

loneliness.
Curley’s wife is lonely, and there is great evidence to support it.

She clearly states that she is lonely to Lennie when he says he can’t talk to her. Curley’s wife says “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely”. Steinbeck 86. Even when Lennie says that he is not permitted to talk to her, she pushes and pushes to talk to him. The farmhands find him dumb and don’t take him seriously, but Curley’s wife is so lonely that she wants to talk to a mentally ill person. Curley’s wife pushes to talk to Lennie almost trying to find a topic to talk to him. Curley’s wife complains that she can only talk to Curley, which is further evidence that she does not really like him. She pushes even further to talk to Lennie. Steinbeck writes,"’I get lonely,’ she said, ‘You can talk to people, but I can not talk to nobody but Curly. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?’". She is very clingy to any shred of attention she can get, hence why she pushes Lennie to talk to her. She ultimately dies in the process. She died for attention. She was lonely and she died lonely. Which brings back that she is flirtatious and misunderstood. Two traits of being

lonely.
Curley’s wife is lonely. Clearly, John Steinbeck was trying to push that point across. almost seemed as if she would do anything for attention, even if that meant flirting with other guys other than her husband, or talking to a mentally handicapped man. In conclusion, Curley’s wife was one of the loneliest characters in the whole book. Which ties with the fact that everyone is lonely at some point in their life, lots of people can relate to what she went through, a parent or guardian not approving of your dream or actions. Which confirms the thesis, Curley’s wife is flirtatious and misunderstood, which confirms that the theme of Of Mice and Men is indeed loneliness.