Curley's Wife

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Curley's wife can be seen to represent a few different things. The first being the painful weight of dreams. Curley's wife represents what happens when dreams fail and the burden this weight places on the individual. She is a sad character because she believes that she could have been something more than she actually is. Her hopes to be in "pitchers" are similar to the men on this ranch, who also have their own dreams. She represents what it means to fail and how painful it is for someone to live with this. Her last conversation with Lennie is a part of the novella where we sympathise with her as a reader and realise we all have our own dreams too. It makes sense that this would be the instant that ends up killing her, a reminder that the pain of failed dreams can be a form of death in its own way. This is also the main part of the novella as it leads to Lennies death which was previously foreshadowed by the death of Candy’s dog.
Curley's wife does not have a name because she does not have her own identity. She is just Curley's wife. She does not fit in with the men on the ranch as she isn’t allowed to speak to anyone but her husband. She has no friends therefore has a lonely existence. Our first impression of Curley’s wife is by the men on the ranch and what they think about her. Some of the words the men use to describe her include ‘‘tart’’ ‘‘jail-bait’’ and ‘‘she got the eye.’’ These all describe her to be dangerous before we first see her. When we’re first introduced to Curley’s wife she is heavily made up with red lipstick and red ostrich feathers both of which symbolise sexuality as well as danger. She has a very flirtatious nature which makes her husband jealous. When she first meets George and Lennie she turned her body forward as to tempt them.
Candy, Curley's wife, and Crooks are the underdogs in Of Mice and Men. They are all outcasts for some reason. For
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