She believes she "coulda been in the movies"
when she describes meeting a man who claims to
be from Hollywood; the reader can see that this
was a lie to get close to her
Thinks her mother was the
reason she never got to be an
actress: "I always thought my ol'
lady stole [the letter]"
Clings to her dream of fame and fortune
as if it is possible in the Great Depression;
doesn't really think about the future or the
likelihood of something she wants
Only in death can we see she wasn't a mean girl, her hardness and
flirtatiousness were a defence, but it comes too late. Steinbeck stops time
for her in an apologetic way, we feel sorry for the way she was treated. All
the and"s in the description of her in death show list of bad things she felt
everyday, so Steinbeck makes the reader empathise with her, but what's
mod tragic is that it is too late to see her nice qualities again.
Annotations:
"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."
Has a disappointed dream, like Lennie and George,
and chats with Lennie who is child-like too, so they are
similar in that they are both like young children
A 'tart'
Wears red clothing and make-up that are impractical on a
ranch; red has connotations with sexuality, love but also
danger, and this danger comes from her flirtatiousness as
the men are scared she'll lose them a job
However, red is also a primary,
colour that little children like to wear
because it is bright, so this also
hints at her child-like innocence
Seems to be looking for Curley all the time,
but is an excuse to talk to the ranch-hands
The men describe her as a 'tart' and 'jail-bait',
so they view her in a negative, dangerous way
She is danger because she
is a 'tart' and can get the men
locked up. The first time she
is introduced she is described
as 'cutting out the light'. Light
has connotations with hope
and happiness, and she has
replaced it with darkness, like
danger, so the reader is
cautious of her already
Annotations:
"The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off."
Little indication of
natural features,
suggests she is all
make-up and is fake
Defensive/ hard/ bullying
She targets Crooks, Candy and
Lennie with their respective
weaknesses to feel power over
them in the only way she can, by
bullying when the more powerful
men aren't around to stop her
Annotations:
"Sat'iday night!" Ever'body out doin' som'pin! Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs - a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep- an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else!"
Gets angry, insulting
and racist when
provoked, so explodes
in a defensive rage
A rant with lots of "and"s
which suggest her anger is
flowing and she can't control it
She feels power over Crooks by being cruel to him even
though he has a name and she is just a possession of
Curley's, but reminds him he is a possession of his skin.
Lonely/ isolated
"I don't like Curley. He ain't a nice fella." She
married him so she could leave home, so she
feels he has separated her from the rest of
the ranch, and he doesn't care about her
Only woman on the
ranch, men avoid her
because she's "jail-bait"
Her cruel defensiveness and 'tart'-like manners
are what make the men avoid her
She has no name, is
Curley's wife and is his
object, and is unhappy and
lonely in her marriage and
in the ranch society