Steinbeck's Portrayal of Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men

Explore Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife in ‘Of Mice and Men’

The reason I dislike Curley’s wife is because she is a two faced liar. Sometimes she acts sweet and innocent, whereas other times she is a stuck up witch. She walks around the ranch seeking attention from all the men. However, the other men don’t want to get involved as it could lead to a loss in their jobs. Also the fact on how she threatened ‘Crooks’ was completely disrespectful and horrible.

When she says ‘I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint even funny’ this indicates that she has a bad soul and doesn’t care about Crooks just because of the fact that he is black. Also the threat of getting him hung on a tree tells us more of what kind of vindictive person she is. At this time, there was only one thing worse than being a single woman on a ranch, and that was a single black man. Now if Curley’s wife were to actually have a heart she would feel solidarity with Crooks however it is the exact opposite and she decides to pick on him as he is illustrated as a weak and powerless character.