Curley's Wife From Of Mice & Men Essay

Curley’s wife. One of the most complex characters in the story. She is an attractive and beautiful young woman. By her appearance it is evident that she is out of place in the ranch, where the people are rough and live danger filled, lonely lives. Whereas she seems to belong more in glitzy and glamorous world, in an easy and out going life. The ranch hands, as seen from the fact that she is given no identity of her own as she is dubbed “Curley’s wife”, objectify her. She is the only woman in the ranch, which isolates her even further since she has no one of similar views and interest to talk to. She is vain, flirtatious and very gullible, which is easily picked up on since she believed out of her own delusions that her mother hid the letter, which told her if she was going to become an actress. This causes her to enter a loveless marriage with Curley, which she believed in self-delusion, was going to provide her a glamorous lifestyle.

Curley’s wife does not partake in any of the manual labour of the ranch. She is always seen running around the ranch, dressed fabulously and claiming to be looking for Curley. We see this when we are first introduced to her, ' She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters…………. “I’m looking for Curley” she said’, this shows that she has no place in the ranch and the fact that she dresses so inappropriately for ranch life emphasises her misplacement and how contrasted she is to the ranch. The way she dresses so inappropriately also brings attention to the fact that she is flaunting herself shamelessly around the ranch hands when she is supposedly ‘looking’ for Curley, ‘she bridled a little……… She smiled archly and twitched her body’, this causes speculations that she only uses Curley as an excuse when in actual fact she wants the ranch hands to swoon over her. She is very flirtatious. We see this when she flirted with Lennie, ‘Lennie watched her, fascinated…………….”Nobody can’t...