Curley's Wife.
- Curley’s Wife is the downfall of the American Dream as far as George and Lennie are concerned; this is because of her death (could be considered as a murder due to Lennie accidentally snapping her neck) that the dream dies. Curley’s Wife, dressed in red, foreshadows the trouble to come on the ranch. Also red itself is a warning colour.
- In Curley’s Wife’s first appearance she stands in the doorway, blocking out the sun- the physical darkening of the room represents the darkening of the dream that comes with her presence.
- Curley’s Wife has no name, which shows that she is a possession and not a person as far as the other men on the ranch believe. This also shows that she has no importance among the ranch workers, although she is actually a rather complex character with her own dreams.
- Her poor quality life provides a slight hint to the reader that dreams rarely came true during that period of time, and that George and Lennie’s American Dream will fail, as her dream was a complete failure too.
- Along with Crooks (the stable hand with a crooked back), she craves attention but once Lennie give it to her she panics, this results in her death, Lennie’s death and the death of Lennie and George’s Dream.
- Steinbeck seems to show, through the character of Curley’s Wife, that even the worst of us still have our humanity.
- Steinbeck portrays two sides of Curley’s Wife, the one that is lonely, innocent girl that is hopelessly searching for a way to achieve her dreams and the one that is petty, cruel and almost as self-obsessed as her husband.
- She represents the loneliness of all the characters on the ranch, although she has a husband she still feels alone due to him barely acknowledging her. She doesn’t necessarily talk to the men to cause trouble, but in the hope of finding someone who’ll make her forget the loneliness for a while.
- Women during that time period were considered to be trophies and property, not people. They were
- In Curley’s Wife’s first appearance she stands in the doorway, blocking out the sun- the physical darkening of the room represents the darkening of the dream that comes with her presence.
- Curley’s Wife has no name, which shows that she is a possession and not a person as far as the other men on the ranch believe. This also shows that she has no importance among the ranch workers, although she is actually a rather complex character with her own dreams.
- Her poor quality life provides a slight hint to the reader that dreams rarely came true during that period of time, and that George and Lennie’s American Dream will fail, as her dream was a complete failure too.
- Along with Crooks (the stable hand with a crooked back), she craves attention but once Lennie give it to her she panics, this results in her death, Lennie’s death and the death of Lennie and George’s Dream.
- Steinbeck seems to show, through the character of Curley’s Wife, that even the worst of us still have our humanity.
- Steinbeck portrays two sides of Curley’s Wife, the one that is lonely, innocent girl that is hopelessly searching for a way to achieve her dreams and the one that is petty, cruel and almost as self-obsessed as her husband.
- She represents the loneliness of all the characters on the ranch, although she has a husband she still feels alone due to him barely acknowledging her. She doesn’t necessarily talk to the men to cause trouble, but in the hope of finding someone who’ll make her forget the loneliness for a while.
- Women during that time period were considered to be trophies and property, not people. They were