Curley's Wife Initiates Her Own Tragic Death in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Curley’s wife is a young, pretty woman, who is mistrusted by her husband. The other characters refer to her only as “Curley’s wife”. This lack of definition underscores this character’s purpose in the story. Her character is unnamed in the book. She is a very flirtatious and provocative lady.

She is not allowed to be in the ranch workers’ bunk house and is also not supposed to talk to the ranch hands. She is practically owned by her husband, Curley. None of the workers pay attention to her because they know it will get them into trouble. Curley is very jealous and protective towards his wife. The ranch workers look at her as a ‘tart’ because she flirts with everyone. Curley’s wife is very lonely, she is the only women amongst all the men on the ranch. Steinbeck explains that she is not a person, she is just a symbol. She has no function, except to be a foil – and a danger to Lennie. She dreamed of becoming a famous movie star, but all her dreams crashed when she married Curley. Instead of following her dreams she had to settle for a lonely life on the ranch.

Curley’s wife is called different names such as ‘loo loo’ (page 56) by the other men. She is a pretty women but most of the men think she is troublesome and bold. She is often sad and frustrated that her life did not turn out any better, since in her youth a man offered to put her in the movies. Curley’s wife knew what Lennie was capable of because Lennie crushed Curley’s hand, when Curley picked a fight with Lennie. Curley’s wife knew that Lennie was mentally retarded, and that he was really strong. She still seeked attention from him. Curley’s wife entered the barn knowing that Lennie was alone...When she entered the barn, she saw Lennie petting his dead “pup”. Curley...

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... did not want to listen to her, because he knew how mad Curley would get. “ why can i not talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” Chapter 5, pg. 86. This is just another one of her flirtatious sides. Curley’s wife is always flirting with the ranch hands, because she wants attention that she does not get from Curley. When Lennie started touching her hair, she got upset and started screaming. Lennie tried to tell her to stop and she would not. He panicked and shook her and when he stopped, she was dead.

Curley’s wife initiated her own death by secretly going into the barn where lennie was. No one knew that she was there. It was not good idea for her to go in there, but still she did. Curley told her to stay away from all the ranch workers especially lennie. Curley knew how dangerous Lennie was... It was her own fault that she was killed.