curleys wife

• Curly's wife


  • She is the only woman on the ranch
  • She wears a lot of makeup and glamorous outfits
  • She is described in a heavily sexualized way by the male characters
• Curly's wife's appearance and behaviour


  Leads the male characters to view her as promiscuous and a "femme fatale"
• Curly's wife's actions, such as leaning against the doorframe and having parted lips, are eroticized by the male characters
• Curly's wife's attempts to look attractive

  May be due to her desire for companionship rather than to attract men sexually
• Curly and Curly's wife are rarely together, emphasizing the distance between them
• The male characters show hypocrisy in judging Curly's wife harshly while respecting the women in the local brothel
• Curly chooses to spend time with prostitutes rather than his own wife
• Curly's wife is placed in an impossible situation where she cannot win - she is judged harshly for her appearance and behaviour
• Steinbeck's description of Curly's wife's physical appearance is more detailed than for any other character, highlighting the objectification of women
• Steinbeck's portrayal of Curly's wife


  May be a product of the patriarchal society he lived in, rather than a deliberate choice to create a two-dimensional female character
• The men speak of old Susie in the local brothel with contempt, showing inequality between them and Curly's wife
• Curly chooses to spend the night with prostitutes rather than be with his own wife, Curly's wife
• Curly's wife is in an impossible situation, unable to win
• Curly's wife's efforts to look attractive


  Not necessarily to attract men for sexual gratification, but to get some attention and companionship
• Curly and his wife are never together, emphasizing the distance between them
• Curly's wife is incredibly isolated on a ranch full of men where she doesn't feel welcome
• During the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, it was frowned upon for married women to take employment, as it was seen as taking away jobs from men who needed to provide for their families
• Curly's wife looks into the bunkhouse in Chapter 4, standing still in the doorway of Crooks's room, symbolizing her marginalization in a man's world
• Curly's wife opens up to Lenny, revealing her loneliness, just before her death
• Curly's wife is the only female on the ranch, accentuating the image of a woman trapped in a misogynistic world of men
• Curly's wife is referred to by the possessive pronoun, emphasizing her objectification and lack of identity
• The men's anger over Curly's wife being near them, wearing makeup, and speaking to them, represents a patriarchal world where men are fixated on dominating females
• Curly's wife knows her weak position, belonging to the outcasts of 1930s society
• Curly's wife threatens to get Crooks "strung up on a tree", preying on the fact that he is black and the weakest member on the ranch
• Curly's wife's death is foreshadowed by Lenny's dangerous behavior, yet Candy blames her for it, highlighting the lack of worth given to her and the normalization of violence against women
• Curly's wife's dream of making a name for herself in the movies is futile, as she is a nameless character dependent on men to make her dream come true
• Curly's wife's dream, like the American dream, is a mental escape from a cruel world, and her only escape is death