t named. This carries on throughout the novel, highlighting her lack of identity on the ranch and how she is viewed as the belonging of her husband, the use of the possessive apostrophe reminds us of this. In addition to her self doubt, she tries to fight her loneliness and isolation by being violent. Her vicious attacks on Crooks to getting him “strung up on a tree” and the attacks on Lennie due to his mental disability, show how loneliness can not only change a person, but destroy them. Despite the representation of threat that she is appointed (an aspect in which we see in the scene that takes place in Crooks’ room), Curley’s wife belongs to the less powerful and deprived group that are in Crooks’ room, such as Candy, Crooks and Lennie, Curley’s wife has very little authority in her world. She is controlled by her more patriarchal husband, feared by the hands of the ranch and isolated as the only woman on the ranch. All of the emotions Curley’s Wife encounters come as a result of the loneliness she feels, and these clearly represent of what a terrifying character she is. Also, through out the novel she still remains ‘Curley’s wife’ This fact helps to provide her character to be seen as an object – George constantly warms Lennie to keep away, she is a person to be feared from a distance. The others, the men, also talk about her in ways that are compatible with the fact that the “tart” presents a danger to the men living on the ranch. Another way in which Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife is through the use of irony. Curley’s Wife only gets negative attention, but it is the only attention she can get because she can’t get the attention which she desires to get from being in the limelight, this links to her American dream to be a film star. The ranch hands don’t give her this positive attention because they think a “ranch with a bunch of guys on it, ain’t no place for a girl specially like her.” Steinbeck uses this to hint and foreshadow at the unhappy ending of her life. She does not know that she is causing pain and casting shadows, so it is ironic that when she dies the light leaves her, “the sun streaks were high on the wall by now.” This ties in with the American Dream women had during Steinbecks harsh world; to be “in the movies”. Just like many others Curley’s wife wants to in the limelight and theatre even though it is not possible for someone like Curley’s wife who has very little authority. Overall, Steinbeck through out the novel uses Curley’s wife to foreshadow events later in the novel and hint at the key e