The Roles of Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck has Curley’s wife plays a big role. Her role is to be a catalyst and represents role of women during her time period, in the 1930s. This is visible as Curley's wife changes the scene immediately when she shows up. By changing the scene I mean she changes other people’s expressions, the looks on their faces and also changes what was meant to happen but did not eventually happen. And Curley's wife changes the scene because she either seeks attention or makes others weaker than her. But her actions do have some consequences. For example her own death and the death of the dreams of every other ranch worker, except for Curley’s dreams. I also found that she acts like her husband.

The first time we see Curley’s wife seek attention occurs when George and Lennie are settling in the bunkhouse. Curley’s wife does this because she wants their attention from the beginning. She already has gotten Lennie’s attention because he keeps on repeating “she purty”, however George managed to resist the temptatio. Often times, Steinbeck also shows that Curley's wife tries to get attention when she wears nice clothes. For example when Curley's wife wore a red dress to get Lennie’s attention because Lennie likes to pet soft things. Curley's wife does this so that she can live the life of an actress. Since being an actress is her dream, Curley's wife was telling Lennie that she “coulda been in the pitchers”. That is also why she wears nice clothes. But sadly her dream was not fulfilled because the letter that was supposed to invite her to the set was never sent to her. So instead of having a nice life Curley's wife is a rancher’s wife.

However Curley’s wife does not always seek attention. She also makes herself ...

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...se she wanted to escape from her mother, who she believed stole the mail the actor meant to send to her. Steinbeck’s story takes place during The Great Depression, 1930s, and all of his characters represent a particular facet of life during that era.

In conclusion the role of Curley’s wife is to be a catalyst meaning that the scene immediately changes whenever she shows up. She changes the scenes by interrupting the ranch workers while they are having a conversation, which annoys them. She also made other ranch workers weaker by making herself appear stronger than them. However her actions have a huge consequence, which is her death. Not only her death but also the death of the dreams of the other ranch workers, which was not he fault. Even though it was not that evident, Curley’s wife did act a bit like Curley when she was alive, however they don’t like each other.