Steinbeck depicts Curley’s wife not as a villain, but rather as a victim. Like the ranch-hands, she is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better life. She's the only female character in the novel, and she's never given a name and is only referred to in reference to her husband. The men on the farm refer to her as a “tramp,” a “tart,” and a “looloo.” Dressed in fancy, feathered red shoes, she represents the temptation of female sexuality in a male-dominated world. Steinbeck represents Curley’s wife as a lonely woman who is unappreciated by her husband, so, conclusively, she will flirt with any man who comes to the ranch.
In the John Steinbeck’s novel “of Mice and Men” he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel as no one relates to her. Steinbeck relates her to how women were powerless during 1930’s and makes her seem desperately lonely and isolated from the others on the ranch. She has sexual power which she uses to get to the men on the ranch and she just needs someone to talk to. She dislikes her husband and had a desire to become a movie star.
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………….
Like the ranch-hands, she is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better life. Curley’s wife: Of Mice and Menis not kind in its portrayal of women. In fact, women are treated with contempt throughout the course of the book. Steinbeck generally depicts women as troublemakers who bring ruin on men and drive them mad. Curley’s wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to be a prime example of this destructive tendency—Curley’s already bad temper has only worsened since their wedding.
Lennie was very isolated also from the ranch workers because he wasn't normal and acted very childish, this mustn't of been nice for Lennie and that is how the ranch is unpleasent for him. Carlson made Candy's life on the ranch very hard because he depised Candy's smelly old dog, in the book Carlson kills the dog because it was old and it stank but he never cared about how Candy felt about the dog he just cared about himself. Carlson killed the dog eventhough he knew how much Candy loved it, when Carlson suggested killing the dog “Candy looked for help from face to face” but nobody helped him. The reason why Candy couldn't stop Carlson from killing his dog was because he was a very brittle old man and was mainly over powered by people stronger than him. This event was very unpleasent for Candy.
Curley’s Wife Curley's wife is the most pathetic of the outsiders: unlike the others, even Lennie, she seems not to understand her limitations - or she refuses to admit them. She still dreams of what might have been, seeing herself as a potential film-star .Desperate for companionship which she doesn’t get from Curley, she flirts with the ranch-hands. They are uneasy about this, as they think her to be seriously promiscuous, and are fearful of Curley's reaction. She is misunderstood and the way she is introduced by Steinbeck is from the point of view of the workers so her image is marred and the audience have a slight dislike for her already. She is constantly objectified by the ranch workers who see her as nothing but a sexual object which we see as she is the target of name-calling from the ranch workers, being referred to as a “tart”, “loulou” and “tramp”.
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.
For example George states she is a ‘tramp’. Her relations with Curley are troubled and extremely scarce as they are never once seen with one another. Steinbeck portrays many acts of Curley’s wife that significantly affect the reader’s relationship with her. Two prime examples would be when she enters Crook’s barn and shows a shear amount of prejudice to Crooks, Lennie and Candy. Secondly, towards the end of the novella, the readers see her as an innocent woman due to the way she ‘consoles’ Lennie.
The title "Of Mice and Men". Firstly Steinbeck portrays Curley's wife as a lonely character. Newly married and in a strange place, she is forbidden by Curley to talk to anyone but him. To counter this, she constantly approaches the ranch hands on the excuse of looking for Curley. The only result is that the men regard her as a "slut", and Curley becomes even more intensely jealous.
Another link is how she was “heavily made up”, and she had “full, rouged lips”. They was she acts around the other men on the ranch was disgusting for a married woman. She was constantly flirting with them, for example she said to Lennie “Nobody can’t blame a person for lookin’” implying that it’s okay for Lennie to look if he wants. She was also always running away from Curley at the same time. Curley’s wife would always try to show more of herself, and of course the reaction of the men was to call her a “tramp” and a “rat trap”.