We can see that Curleys wife is portrayed by Steinbeck as a tart in the beginning of the book, she is not cared for or liked by many of the men on the ranch at all as she irritates them and they think that she is not loyal towards Curley. However, by the end of the book the reader feels sorry for her as we see deeper inside her and see how lonely she is, she only has the image of a tart because she is so alone and the only way she knows to make friends is by being a flirtatious person.
The first mention of Curleys wife is in chapter 2 when George and the swamper are talking about her. They say that she is Purty ... but- well-she got the eye. They mean that she is always looking and flirting with other men. This makes the reader feel annoyed towards her and definitely not feel any sympathy towards her as she has only been married a short while and she is looking for men and not being loyal. Also they then go on to say Know what I think?-Well I think that Curleys married... a tart. The readers thoughts about Curleys wife are exaggerated as in those days, a tart meant a prostitute and no one really feels any sympathy towards a prostitute.
Steinbeck makes us feel again that she is a bit of a tart when we first see her in chapter 2. She is heavily made up as she had full rouged lips-her hair hung in little rolled clusters- she wore a cotton house dress and red mules. We can see that Curleys wife really cared about her appearance, almost too much as she should, because she is married and she shouldnt have to impress anybody else. It is really weird that on a ranch she would be so heavily made up because one would normally get muddy and dirty on a ranch yet she acts as if she is about to do a photo shoot.
In chapter 4 we start to feel sympathy for Curleys wife as Steinbeck makes us see that Curley is not a nice man as he has also gone to the whore house with most of the men. The only ones left are Crooks, Candy and Lennie. Curleys wife comes looking for Curley and they treat her like an idiot [You] think I dont know where they all went? Even Curley, I know where they all went she says. We can see that she knows that they went to the whore house, even her newly married husband. This makes us sorry for her because Steinbeck portrays that Curley doesnt care for their marriage he just carries on as if it doesnt exist. She gets very lonely at this point and she has been betrayed by her husband. She gets very emotional by all this so she shouts at the men, Talkin to a bunch of bindle stiffs a nigger an a dum-dum and a lousy ol sheep- an likin it because they aint nobody else. We can see that this makes her emotional and that she is lonely as she has nobody who likes her.
Again we feel sorry for her as we realise that many of the men on the ranch do not appreciate her and they just see her as a body; Slim calls her good-lookin and Steinbeck makes us think that Slim sees that she is more of a thing to look at than anything else. We almost feel that he is only saying it to please her and that he doesnt really feel that she is anything underneath. This makes us feel sympathy for her because she is not given any respect at all.
When we are in chapter 5 Steinbeck makes the reader feel true sympathy towards Curleys wife. She and Lennie are in the barn when they get talking. As they do we see some real vulnerability within her for the first time throughout the book. Lennie is saying how she shouldnt talk to him and she says Aint I got a right to talk to anybody? - I aint doing no harm to you we can see that she really is just lonely and wants to talk to somebody. Then we can see more of her inside when she talks about her dreams of being an actress if I went I wouldnt be livin like this, you bet. meaning that she feels she could have done much better with her life. We feel such sympathy as we now can see that she has feelings and we know that she is disappointed with her life. We also see how nice and sweet she could have been when she tries to make Lennie happy she looked closely at Lennie to see whether she impressed him. It makes the reader feel that she wants him to be happy and that her only way of doing it is by telling him exciting things. She lets him stroke her hair just so that he is happy although that is actually how she dies!
After she dies Steinbeck shows how sweet and young she is, She was very pretty and simple- Now her rouged cheeks and reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping. we feel very sorry for her as we know now that it is too late for her to show her real self in life. The only way that she could be who she really is is when she does not have to impress anybody which is when she is dead.
Therefore I think Curleys wife is not always a sympathetic character throughout the book but she is a lonely woman who does not get treated completely as she should. I can really feel that she was an honest person, she is very faithful towards Curley and the reason for her being a tart is because she was incredibly lonely not because she wanted many men in her life.
Already have an account? Log In Now
7256