In Scene Two of Of Mice and Men when
Curley's wife appears in the doorway of the bunkhouse, Steinbeck's description of her
seems to aptly reinforce the comments of the old swamper, who has described her as
"Purty...but----" and "she got the eye" that she has given to Slim, the mule skinner and
Carlson. For, as she stands in the doorway, she strikes a
pose:
She put
her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown
forward. "Your're the new fellas that just come, ain't
ya?"
As Lennie looks at her,
she "bridled a little," then glances at her fingernails, pretending to be nonchalant,
but her next words are said "playfully" as she "smiled archly and twitched her
body":
"....I
guess I better look some place
else."
Clearly, Curley's
wife, is flirtatious, with her "full, rouged lips" and heavily made up face and red
fingernails and "nasal, brittle" voice is no lady. She notices the reaction of Lennie
when he looks at her legs and arches her body in an animalistic response to the male
interest in her. Her remark that she should look elsewhere is a lure thrown out to see
if the new men will say, "Oh, you can stay a while." But, George is aware of her
meaning and replies brusquely to her so she will understand that there is no
encouragement.
Steinbeck's depiction of Curley's wife is
that of an Eve, who poses threats to the peace and fraternity of the men. It is
Curley's wife who disrupts any harmony between the boss's son and the workers, and among
the men who constantly struggle to overcome their alienation from one another. As she
lies lifeless on the hay in the barn after the others have gone, Old Candy looks
helplessly back at her and "his sorrow and anger grew into
words":
"You done it, di'n't you? I s'pose you're
glad. ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good
now, you lousy tart."
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