Curley’s wife’s less physical (but much more destructive) violence is shown through her treatment of the weaker characters in the book, illustrating Steinbeck's moral of how violence has many different motivators. The portrayal of Curley's wife as an object of seduction leads the readers to conclude that the men on the ranch only think of her as a cause of trouble and distance themselves from her presence, not even giving her a name. Her desperate attempts for attention are coyly hidden behind flirtatious airs that may have worked on Curley, but are rebuffed by the ranch workers. Curley’s wife’s lack of influence on the men leads her to be extremely insecure about her deficiency of power on the ranch, and she tries to take power away from others
