Since she is the only woman on the ranch, she is set apart from the others. Curley, her own husband ignores her. He does not regard his wife as a person needing love and companionship, but rather as an object which can be put aside, pushed around. Instead of being attentive to his wife, Curley is frequently going out with “the boys” to a whorehouse. Curley’s wife has no love for her husband and wished to leave him, but her final escape route is blocked since her father is deceased and her mother doesn’t want her.
“He glanced coldly at George then Lennie.” (Steinbeck Pg 23) Getting defensive over the very sight of Lennie and George trying to pick a fight with the wrong people. Curley’s Wife; Judged from the start Curley’s wife is discriminated against from the start, the men on the ranch just assume she’s a whore when in all actuality she only married Curley because she had to. “She had full rouged lips and wide-spaced eye’s, heavily made up, her hair hung in little rolled clusters like sausages.” (Steinbeck pg 29) The very definition of beauty in the 1930’s Curley’s wife is lonely and in need of a friend other than her over bearing husband. Her only mistake when it came to talking to Lennie was panicking when he latched onto her hair which was ultimately her down fall.
Curley’s wife: It is as though she belongs to Curley. This is very disrespectful considering that the prostitutes in town are given a name! Crooks: Is given that name by the ranch hands because of his ‘crooked back’. This indicates that his identity has been determined by his disability.Both characters are DEPERSONALISED because of their lack of identity- they have become objects, not
An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' had pitchers took of me." This detail shows exactly what Curley's wife wants, as well as showing what she has not got, she is the only female on the ranch and is married to a man who sees her as sexual object "he wears a glove fulla vaseline," and she is treated like a girl, "maybe you just better go along an' roll your hoop". She also has no friends like when she says- "I get lonely" and no one to talk to. Curley’s wife is downhearted by the dreams and hope’s she has I believe because she doesn’t look in the present she looks in the past of what she could have had so I don’t think hopes and dreams help
Perhaps there are other women around; Curley’s wife is still mistreated. “’…think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house…’” [Steinbeck 78]. Curley’s wife is never referred to by her actual name; she is portrayed as Curley’s possession. All of the ranch workers like George, Carlson and Crooks are very rude to her. Even Curley doesn’t not refer to her by her name, he always says, “Where’s my wife?” which can we disrespectful.
Curley’s wife clearly feels neglected by her husband and she likes to create attention for herself as she feels she isn’t noticed. She is extremely lonely, and that is why she is constantly going in to the bunkhouse to allegedly ‘look for Curley’ but really she is crying out for the attention and affection that her loveless marriage lacks. “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?” and “Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a nigger an a dum dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.” This shows how desperate she is for contact with people. She is isolated because she is the only woman on the ranch, and because of this Curley is possessive over her. No characters in the novel care for Curley’s Wife (except for Lennie for a brief time) and very little attention is given to her- partly because they are intimidated by the potential wrath of Curley, son of the boss, if they step out of line concerning his wife.
She would flirt with the ranch hands for her own fun and she stupidly tried the same with Lennie. She was racist and a bit of a "tart". You could also look at her sympathetically. She was the lonely wife of jealous husband. All she wanted is someone to talk to but all there was were the ranch hands who didn't want anything to do with her because they would get in trouble.
We can see that Curley’s wife is portrayed by Steinbeck as a ‘tart’ in the beginning of the book, she is not cared for or liked by many of the men on the ranch at all as she irritates them and they think that she is not loyal towards Curley. However, by the end of the book the reader feels sorry for her as we see deeper inside her and see how lonely she is, she only has the image of a tart because she is so alone and the only way she knows to make friends is by being a flirtatious person. The first mention of Curley’s wife is in chapter 2 when George and ‘the swamper’ are talking about her. They say that she is ‘Purty ... but- well-she got the eye’. They mean that she is always looking and flirting with other men.
It is true that she is the only female on the ranch, but that isn’t the main reason she is an outcast. She is an outcast because she is the wife of Curley. People are afraid of Curley; he gets jealous very easily and would start a fight with anyone that tries to approach her. Because of this, most of the ranch hands avoid talking to her, and she notices that she is being rejected and ignored. She asks “Wha’s the matter with me?
She is forced to stay in the house by her controlling husband Curley. Curley is insecure about his relationship with his wife, which causes him to be controlling, jealous, and mean. Curley’s wife uses flirting with the workers on the ranch as one way to help with her loneliness. She sees that Lennie is simple minded and so she feels that he is the only one she can talk about her problems with. She feels that no one else listens.