Why does Curley's wife not have a name in Of Mice and Men? Why does Curley's wife not have a name in Of Mice and Men?

I agree
with historiaamator's post #9. Steinbeck needed a victim for his plot, which is essentially
about how one man feels compelled to kill his best friend, thus ending their dream of owning
their own farm. We can't help feeling somewhat sorry for the girl who is brutally murdered--but
if we feel too sorry for her, then we won't feel sorry fororat the end. Steinbeck seems to be
walking a tightrope with his depiction of the girl (who is probably only 16 or 17). He
deliberately makes her appear vicious when she verbally assaults Crooks in his room and suggests
that she could have him lynched if she wanted to. But he makes her appear kind, naive, harmless
and vulnerable when she is talking to Lennie in the barn. Steinbeck had another reason for not
giving her a name: She is the only female in his cast of characters. The men need names for the
reader to be able to tell them apart. The men's names are as simple as Steinbeck could make
them--Crooks, Candy, Curley, Slim, George, Lennie. There is nothing so great about the men
having such names.