In chapter 5, Curley's wife is presented in a more sympathetic light. She expresses feelings of loneliness from being unable to talk to anyone but her husband Curley. When speaking to Lennie, her words tumble out desperately as she hurries before he can leave, showing her intense need for communication after being silenced by Curley. She is also portrayed as gentle and caring with Lennie, consoling him soothingly in a maternal way. The chapter provides more depth to Curley's wife's character beyond her earlier portrayal as flirtatious or malicious.

1. Chapter 5 sees Steinbeck give the reader a more developed picture of
Curley’s wife’s character. She enters the chapter in a very similar way to
her first entrance in the novel
‘She wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with the red
ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and the little sausage curls
were in place’.
Despite this almost exact description of her from chapter 2, the reader is
presented with a different side to this seemingly flirtatious and,
sometimes malicious, character. N this chapter Steinbeck allows Curley’s
wife character to articulate her feelings of loneliness
‘I get lonely’
‘I get awful lonely’
This use of repetition emphasises her isolation and frustration at her not
being able to talk to ‘nobody but Curley’ and it is this frustration which
continually surfaces as she speaks to Lennie
‘And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication,
as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away’
The word ‘tumbled’ suggests how her need to talk is desperate whilst the
word ‘passion’ illustrates the power and intensity of this need to
communicate. She has clearly been silences and stifled by her husband.
What is particularly striking is that she is used to people walking away
from her when she talks and it is this which creates such sympathy for
her.
In chapter 5 Curley’s wife is also presented as a gentle and caring
character, a far cry from the character who threatened Crooks with
lynching in chapter 4
‘She consoled him ‘Don’t you worry none’…She moved closer to
him and she spoke soothingly’
The fact that she spoke ‘soothingly’ suggests she has a kind nature and
acts in a maternal way when Lennie needed such gentleness.
As the novel progresses, the reader learns that Curley’s wife was very
similar to George and Lennie.