“She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little clusters, like sausages.”
In this passage, John describes Curley’s Wife. All of the men on the ranch find her very appealing, or lust for her, and this is not unlike what they feel for the American dream. Both the American Dream and Curley’s Wife are the ideal picture. However, she constantly flirts with the ranch men, and that gives them hope that they can be with her. She never actually does anything with them. This symbolizes