Quotes from Section 5 in OMAM that suggests we feel sympathy towards Curley's wife

1. Her dream and how it ended

1.1. 'i tell you i aint used to living like this, i coulda made somethin' of myself.'

1.1.1. What we can infer from this quote is that Curley's wife is uncontent with her current life on the ranch, and she clearly envies the past opportunities she faced and the genuine recognition as a human being she would have received, as apposed to being ignored and insulted on the ranch. She appears to regret marrying curley and moving to the ranch, as she is exclaiming in frustration how good her life would've been.

1.2. 'He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.'....

1.2.1. Curley's wife could have been an actor, and the fact that she still remembers this shows that she is still wanting to be one. It also suggests that she is not content with he life on the ranch.

1.3. "But the guy says I coulda. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet"

1.3.1. Curley's wife feels regrets not having gone, she feels bitter about her current life.

2. Her terror as she died

2.1. Quote: "her eyes were wild with terror."

2.1.1. Explanation: Curleys wife was terrified of dying therfore her eyes were wild with terror. She wasn't expecting Lennie to strangle her which is probably why she reacted this way.

2.2. Quote: "She struggled violently under his hands. Her feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be free"

2.2.1. Explanation: This explanation of her struggle showcases her desperation and pain as Lennie was choking her out. This detailed description disturbs the reader, and uses the readers discomfort to evoke sympathy for the pain and torture that Curley's wife is recieving.

2.3. Quote: "'Let go' She cried"

2.3.1. Explanation: This shows us that when Lennie was grabbing her hair she was in pain. The pain she was in was so bad that she had to grab onto his hand to try and stop Lennie from hurting her anymore

3. Her loneliness

3.1. Quote: "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely."

3.1.1. Explanation: Curley's wife can't talk to anyone because if the workers get caught by Curley talking to her Curley will get mad so the workers just avoid her.

3.2. Quote: "I can’t talk to nobody but Curley"

3.2.1. Explanation: This shows how she is treated in the barn and by her own husband. Not talking to anyone at all could lead to extreme loneliness and a feeling of abandonment and wanting attention

3.3. Quote:

3.3.1. Explanation:

4. Curley's wife is kind and caring towards Lenny

4.1. “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughten to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.”

4.1.1. This quote shows us that she trusts Lennie as he's the only person she told this too. This also shows us that she doesn't like the other boys enough to tell them this information. She probably trusts Lennie due to the fact that he's different. He doesn't want to talk to her because she's pretty or because he wants to do stuff with her. No, he just wants to talk. She could also trust him due to the fact that he beat up Curley and crushed his hand. We already know that she isn't exactly fond of Curley from the quote. Plus, she can also kind of relate to him, just like Lennie, she's misunderstood. Everyone thinks that she a tart and that she's sexually active when in reality she's just lonely.

4.2. She was a little bit reassured, 'well who dont?' she said, 'ever' body likes that. i like to feel silk an velvet. Do you like to feel velvet?'

4.2.1. I think this related to it because while liking to feel nice things may seem normal to anybody else, the things lennie had done before talking to her may seem strange or even weird to some people,and hes been called out for things like that but Curley's wife has accepted him and even related to it as she says that she likes to do the same thing.

4.3. And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Lennie and sat beside him.

4.3.1. Curly's wife is beginning to confide in Lennie and because of that she is getting kinder to Lennie. Also they trust each other because they are both telling each other their secrets. Lennie told her about their plan to get their own ranch, which he wasn't supposed to tell anybody. Curly's wife also told Lennie that she thought that Curly was mean and that she didn't really like him.

5. Her poor relationship with Curley

5.1. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.”

5.1.1. Explanation: Curley's wife detests Curley. He forbids her from everything. She can't even talk to any of the men on the ranch, or else he'll get mad and give the men a hard time and give her a hard time too.

5.2. Quote: "So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night"

5.2.1. Explanation: She married Curley right after she realized her dream was out of reach, the same night she met him. Curley's wife did not have any time to get to know Curley first.

5.3. She said quietly, He's scared Curley'll get mad. Well curleys got his arm in a sling- an if curley gets tough, you can break his other han'.

5.3.1. usually, if you are married to somebody, you care deeply about them however when Lennie tell her he isn't allowed to talk to her she knows instantly that its because curley'll get mad. this shows us that either she is scared of him too which is entirely possible or that she's seen it before, also when h=she talks about curlays hand being broken she doesn't argue with lennie about how he hurt him but she encourages him to do it again if needed. e

5.4. ‘I’m glad you bust Curley up…I’d like to bust him myself’

5.4.1. This quote suggests that Curley's wife is rather annoyed of his antics and does not want to associate with someone like him. And to top it all of, she is also going public with this information, meaning that she's gotten over the line of fear.