Chapter 5 Reflection

Surprisingly, the first person responsible for Curley’s wife’s death is Curley’s wife

herself. Curley’s neglect of his wife leads her to be lonely. To compensate for that loneliness, she

tries to befriend the rest of the men working on the ranch. She makes herself very amicable.

However, when called out on that, she asks the men if they “think [she doesn’t] like to talk to

somebody ever’ once in a while,” (Steinback 77). Her loneliness causes her to act out, such as

telling Lennie to run his fingers through her hair. With Curley, she lacks any sort of physical

intimacy except for what he keeps his hand in Vaseline for. However, by making herself

vulnerable due to her lack of companionship, she puts herself in danger. Even after hearing how

George had a meltdown in an old town, she was still foolish enough, or maybe lonely enough, to

let him touch her, putting herself in harm’s way.

And just like marriage, it must have been ordinary to keep blame within a family, because

the next culpable person for Curley’s wife is Curley. His neglect is the very thing that led to his

wife’s loneliness and should be held accountable. Be it because he was busy with work or with

soaking other people, he was a terrible husband, which left his wife vulnerable to any other sort

of affection she might get from anyone around her.

Another person responsible for Curley’s wife’s death is George. The same George who

was responsible for keeping Lennie out of trouble ultimately leads to Lennie’s biggest threat. It’s

fair to say George coddles Lennie a bit, they’re childhood friends and traveling buddies.

However, in a way, he put so much danger in Lennie’s head, warning him about staying away

from Curley’s wife, or telling him where to hide should he get into a predicament. Even as

Lennie is holding onto Curley’s wife’s hair, he’s begging her to be quiet, worrying about how

“George will be mad” if she keeps screaming and gets him in trouble (Steinbeck 91). Had
 2

George not been so adamant about keeping Lennie away from Curley’s wife, Lennie might not

have panicked, might not have snapped her neck.

Lastly, the other men at the ranch also hold responsibility for Curley’s wife’s death to

some extent. Curley’s wife herself says at a point that whenever she’s alone with the men, they’re

friendly with her. This always led to some level of intimacy, and some level of trust. The men

knew she was married, and yet they played around with her. This led to a certain level of

self-confidence, a sort of trust that propped herself open for attacks. Not only that, but the other

men tended to exclude Lennie from any activities, due to his mental state. Curley’s wife must

have felt empathetic which led to some sort of connection with Lennie. Leading to her death.