Curley's wife is deeply unhappy with her lot in life, and she does not try to hide her dissatisfaction from the men on the ranch. They discuss her behavior behind her back, worrying that her behavior will inspire her hot-headed husband to violence, and she herself reveals to some of the men that she doesn't actually respect nor like her husband. The quotes below are only a few from the novel that can be used to evidence Curley's wife's negative and unhappy state of mind.
In chapter 3 of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, several of the men sit together and play cards in the bunkhouse. Whit discusses Curley's wife, insinuating that she is unsatisfied by her life with Curley. He uses her curiosity about other men and her attention-seeking behavior as proof of his opinion:
Whit laid down his cards impressively. "Well, stick around an' keep your eyes open. You'll see plenty. She ain't concealin'nothing. I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin' all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye. I don't know what the hell she wants."
In chapter 4, Lennie talks with Candy and Crooks as Curley's wife interrupts them. She tries to have a conversation with them, and her loneliness is on display for the men. She makes the men uncomfortable and nervous with her attention and her obvious desire to engage them in a chat. When Crooks suggests she go back home, she responds with a petulant comment that reveals her unhappiness and boredom:
Well, I ain't giving you no trouble. Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?
Candy echoes Crooks's words in response to Curley's wife, reminding her that she has a husband and that she shouldn't be trying to cause problems for the other men. His words anger Curley's wife, and she vents about her husband in sarcastic frustration and bitterness, confirming her marital dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms:
Sure I gotta husban'. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain't he? Spends all his time sayin' what he's gonna do to guys he don't like, and he don't like nobody. Think I'm gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley's gonna lead with hisleft twicet, and then bring in the ol' right cross? "One-two," he says. "Jus' the ol' one-two an' he'll go down."
Though Curley's wife is simply reacting to a lonely situation, her quest for company and conversation puts the other men in harm's way. Her mannerisms feel dangerous to the men; perhaps if she were less glamorous and less flirtatious in her attempts to talk with the men, they would be more gentle with her when setting boundaries. No matter her manner, Curley's wife is most certainly a desperate and unhappy person, trapped in a marriage to an unpleasant man on a ranch with no one to talk to about her problems.
Curley and his wife have only been married for a short time, but she is already expressing her unhappiness with him, as well as with being stuck in his house on the ranch. When she shows up in Crooks' domain, which is the harness room leaning next to the barn, the men question why she is there. She responds:
Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?
The quote indicates she is lonely, bored, and dissatisfied.
Beyond her dissatisfaction with her isolated situation as the only woman on the ranch, Curley's wife is also discontented with her new husband. She is especially bored by his bragging about fighting other men:
Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guy she don’t like, and he don’t like nobody. Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twicet, and then bring in the ol’ right cross?
But it is not only the ranch and Curley that fail to meet up to her expectations. She also wishes to be going out on a Saturday, insisting that everyone else is. The last thing she wants to be doing is hanging out with inferiors and misfits, which is how she describes her plight:
—Sat’iday night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ 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.
Curley's wife is a woman with little to do who conveys that she is unhappy in both her marriage and her life situation, forced to socialize with misfits because she has no other choice.
Curley's wife expresses a desire to go to Hollywood and be in pictures. The ranch is stifling to her, and Curley is too self-absorbed to give her the attention that she craves. It can be easy to condemn Curley's wife, but she is hardly more than a girl and trapped in a situation she doesn't know how to manage.
Curley's wife is the only woman on the farm and is portrayed as a lonely, entitled woman who lives a miserable life. Her husband is a hot-headed, arrogant man, who forbids her from talking to the workers and fears that she will cheat on him. The workers avoid Curley's wife as much as they can, and George gives Lennie clear instructions to stay away from her. George fears that Lennie will harm Curley's wife and does not want to experience another dangerous situation similar to what happened in Weed.
In chapter 5, Curley's wife wanders into the barn and finds Lennie attempting to cover his dead puppy with hay. Lennie initially rebuffs Curley's wife when she attempts to have a friendly conversation with him. When Lennie refuses to speak to her, Curley's wife reveals her unhappy life by saying,
I get lonely...You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?
She continues to lament about her lonely, unfulfilling life by telling Lennie,
Seems like they ain't none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself.
Overall, Curley's wife is unhappily married to an arrogant, pugnacious man who forbids her from talking with the other men, which makes her feel like an outcast on the ranch.
In Of Mice and Men, there are a lot of quotations that show Curley's wife is unhappy with her life. In chapter 4, for example, she reflects on the life she could have had:
An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers . . .
In this same section, she notes that instead of having the life of a movie star, she's stuck, left talking to a "bunch of bindle stiffs." This shows that Curley's wife has some regrets from her past.
Later, in chapter 5, she says,
I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.
For Curley's wife, life on the ranch is oppressive and isolating. Instead of living an exciting and meaningful life, she is trapped in an unhappy marriage with Curley. In chapter 4, she says to Lennie,
I'm glad you bust up Curley a little bit. He got it comin' to him. Sometimes I'd like to bust him myself.
In other words, she regrets her marriage to Curley. He is abusive towards her, leaving her feeling resentful towards him. Curley's wife is, therefore, unhappy, lonely, and surrounded by people who consider her to be "jailbait."
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