How does Steinbeck demonstrate the idea that The Great Depression was a lonely period using the relationship between Curley and his Wife?
Curley would have been abusive to his wife with or without the depression. He has a complex about being small and takes it out on others including his wife. Curley's wife is so lonely and isolated that she does not even get a name: she is simply known as Curley's property. In terms of the depression, Curley's wife might not have had many options. Women were expected to marry young and Curley was available and had money. Most men were travelling or broke.
