how does steinbeck describe the atomsphere in the barn leading up to curley's wifes body being found?

This chapter contains what might be analyzed as the climactic action of the novel - the event after which there is no turning back. Once again, as in the previous chapters, the action centers around a single location - very much like a stage play. It's quite a fitting structure for the death of a would-be actress. The tension begins with the entrance of Curley's wife in the barn. We know, through some heavy foreshadowing earlier, something bad is going to happen. After the death of Curley's wife there is a sense of futility, Lennie is finished.