The reader’s first impression of Curley’s Wife comes from Candy in section 2 – page 49. ‘Well – she got the eye…Well I think Curley’s married… a tart.’ How does Steinbeck want the reader to feel about Curley’s wife at the start of the novella? Why?
Section 2 – page 52 – When the reader first sees Curley’s wife, the way Steinbeck describes her helps to solidify the reader’s negative first impression of her: ‘Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spread eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hear hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers…her body was thrown forward…’
Analyse the language of the above passage… Why does Steinbeck want the reader to view Curley’s wife negatively at this stage in the novella?
George reacts really negatively to his first meeting with Curley’s wife. Read page 54 and pick out some of the derogatory terms that George uses to refer to Curley’s wife? Does George actually know Curley’s wife? What does this show about attitudes to women in the 1930s?
Section 4 – page 111 – Curley’s wife – ‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?’
Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife in a very negative light in section 4 – he presents her as incredibly cruel towards Crooks – why does Steinbeck do this? Why do you think Curley’s wife is so horrible towards Crooks in this scene: ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip at him again…’ What language analysis could you get from the last quote there?
Section 5 – when Steinbeck reveals a different side to Curley’s wife and builds sympathy for her character right before Lennie kills her – structural technique. There is a lot of evidence in section 5 to suggest that Curley’s wife, rather than being a ‘tart’ is just a lonely young and slightly naïve girl, who uses the only things she has (her sexuality) to get some attention on the ranch. We are introduced to her dream, which, much like the American dream, seems a little unlikely. Choose some quotations to show the ‘other side’ to Curley’s wife and post them below:
Section 5 – page 129 – After her death, Steinbeck describes her very differently: ‘And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly.’
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