How Is Curley's Wife A Sympathetic Character

Misconception
Curley’s wife, who was never to be named, was a complex and important main character in John Steinbeck's novelette “Of Mice & Men.”. She had a complicated past from aspiring to be a young actress but never getting the support needed from her family. She was practically forced into marriage with Curley; she never actually loved him. From the first time she was brought up in the novelette, she was portrayed as a flirtatious, ignorant tramp. This portrayal, however, is based on the viewpoints of Steinbeck’s male characters. Steinbeck himself is not one of those men. To confuse Steinbeck's voice with that of his male characters would be to wrongly accuse the author of misogyny. In fact, Curley's wife is a sympathetic character

The author, however, drops hints throughout the book telling his audience that there may be more to Curley’s wife than what is easily deduced. One scene involving a sympathetic portrayal of Curley’s wife is when she is looking for Curley in Crooks’ quarters after Lennie and Candy enter. She knows where Curley and the rest of the men have gone, and grows angry at the cold shoulder treatment she is given by the three men in the room. Curley’s wife confesses her loneliness of being stuck in the house all the time and to not liking Curley’s company. The men in the room take this as flirting rather than seeking friendship and someone to confide in. This is how the men saw her from the first time Candy brought her up to Lennie and George. As a woman that has an eye out for other men and all she wants is the wrong kind of attention. From the beginning, the reader has a biased opinion of Curley’s wife based on rumors before she even makes an actual appearance. The men talk about how she has “an eye” for the other men around the ranch, but they never actually go up to her to get an actual explanation. When she actually comes and seeks them out and tries to interact with them, they treat her with the least of

She had dreams of going on to Hollywood, becoming somebody people awed, having luxurious perks and clothes. She wanted to make something of herself, coming from nothing. She was promised great things because of her beauty. But in reality her dreams never came true, the letters she awaited never came, the promises that were made to her were never fulfilled. She refused to stay somewhere where she would continue to be a nobody. When she met Curley she reluctantly married him, he was her ticket out of her desperate life. She never married him out of love and romance, just out of hopelessness. Their entire marriage has been distant. She is property in his eyes, he tries to control who she talks to and interacts with, he treats her with the slightest of respect, and is a disloyal husband. Only after weeks of their marriage he’s already going to “cat houses.” Like any person she needs to be loved, she needs to be cared for, she needs attention and she needs