Stud Case on Curleys Wife

Curley’s Wife Character Profile

Curley’s wife has no name and is seen as the possession of her husband. She is also a pretty lady who wears makeup, dresses, and ostrich feathered-high heels. As the only woman on the ranch, Curley’s wife is lonely and sad, something her marriage to Curley only makes worse. She reveals throughout the story that she is unhappy in her marriage because her husband seems to care little for her, and is really more interested in talking about himself than anything else. Further, she highlights her lost potential, she details twice that she could’ve been a Hollywood movie star, though the chance was taken from her by her mother, who worried she was too young.
Quotes       | Explained |
“hand soft for his wife” | Curley portrays that he is saving his hand for her meaning that she must be sexually active with Curley at first. |
“wait’ll you see Curley’s wife”   “she got the eye” | Others think she is a wild one who flirts with anyone and anything. |
“Full, roughed lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up.” “fingernails were red” | All made up when she is only on a ranch because that’s all she has and she has to look nice for Curley and keep up her appearances so Curleys’s reputation doesn’t get ruined. |
“hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages” | Childlike language as if Lennie is imagining her hair as sausages. Senses. |
“Wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquet or red ostrich feathers” | Dresses as if she was a movie star and wishes she was betty boop (famous Hollywood star) when the reality is that she is a housewife who devotes her life to her husband. |
“Voice had a nasal, brittle quality.” | Hollywood accent |
“Puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” | She is pushing all her assets forward like a film star would or a singer when they are performing to try and look their very best. |
“Playfully”...