There are many ways how Steinbeck has presented Curley’s Wife. One of that is his use of colour and illustrating her as something mysterious and forbidden. Before she enters, she “cut off” the sunshine in the doorway, this immediately tells the readers she brings darkness with her and could be seen as a mirroring of the end of the American Dream. Steinbeck’s symbolism of darkness replicates her as Eve, the temptress, leading men into darkness and sin. She is essentially a ‘scarlet women ‘ a danger to men that lures them for intercourse. Coupled with his use of the “rouged” lips and “red” fingernails and “red” shoes, he chose a colour to represent her that is associated with energy and passion, but it is also a connotation of danger and blood.
