Of Mice and Men – Isolation – Curley’s Wife

Curleys wife is the only female on the spreadhead and is described in a very feminine and incongruous manner, full, make up lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made-up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little furled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. The bold, heavily made-up port matches her personality as she disguises her true feelings and emotions with lies like the colourful, interesting appearance disguises her lonely, obscure life.As the only woman, she is segregated from the ranch society and Steinbeck makes her seem more isolated and friendless by never giving her a name merely being identified as Curleys possession. She is seen throughout the novella searching constantly for Curley yet this is just an excuse to talk to the other people, Im looking for Curley, she said, her voice had a nasal, brittle quality. She struggles to create friends or let alone h ave a civilised conversation with the custody on the ranch.She uses this feminine appearance and flirtatious, predatory behaviour in an begin to communicate and attract attention to herself. However this backfires and leaves her in a unsuccessful situation as her heavily sexualised manner is the key point of critical review amongst the men as they describe her as a tart and a piece of jail bait who, if approached, will only lead to disarray as she can ultimately cause the destruction of their own versions of the American Dream. Her isolation throughout the novella is caused by her gender, sexual appearance and predatory behaviour.