In the novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates through the characterization of Curley’s wife that you can’t judge a book by its cover. You have to actually personally know someone yourself well enough to judge someone. Curley’s wife was depicted as a tramp and was treated badly because she was a woman. In the book they don’t even bother to give her name, this shows how she was just treated as an object instead of a person and how little of purpose she had in the novella which is completely unfair. “You God damn tramp.” “You don’t it, di’n’t you? I spose you’re glad. Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t good. You ain’t no good now, you lousy tart.” Candy says this when he finds the body of Curley’s wife. He blames her for ruining the dream they had for the farm. This wasn’t right, it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t tell Lennie to break her own neck to mess up their fantasy. Curley’s wife actually is a very nice lady, she is just misunderstood. She opens up to Lennie as Crooks did probably because she knew Lennie wouldn’t be able to comprehend anything she would tell him. “An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn’ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.” She tells Lenny about the dream she had to become a Movie Star. This relates to the dream George, Lennie, and Candy had for their farm. They both had a dream to be successful and live a nice life but they also both experienced the reality of their dreams not ever happening. She also opens up and talks about Curley. “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” Curley’s wife hated her life. She was always bossed around by Curley and trapped or confined in his bubble. She always just wanted someone to talk to and just have a nice conversation with. In a way she found that with Lennie, even though he didn’t understand her much, she was able to let out her feelings and express herself. Unfortunately she didn’t know how dangerous Lennie could be which led to her tragic death. All in all though, she definitely didn’t deserve to die.
