Part 5: Lennie and Curley's wife

In part 5 of Of Mice and Men Curley's wife and Lennie confined in each other some interesting secrets. Curley's wife told Lennie that " I get awful lonely" (86) and that "I don' like Curley. He ain't a nice fella" (89). She also tells him about her past and how a man wanted to get her in the movies and Hollywood.  I think that she told him all of this personal and potentially risky information because she knew that Lennie was so focused on his puppy and that he wouldn't listen. Also, she told him this because she could probably tell that he was not a person that understood or followed conversation much. Lennie on the other hand told Curley's wife that "George says I ain't to have nothing to do with you-talk to you or nothing" (86) and that "I like to pet nice things...sometimes I even pet mice"(90). The first thing that he told her lead to her telling him how she was lonely and about her past. The second thing he told her however lead to her telling him to stroke her hair because it was very soft. When Lennie did this, Curley's wife panicked, because he wouldn't let go of her hair leading to Lennie accidentally breaking her neck, which killed her. In the end the significance of the confessions was that they lead to the death of one of the confessors, and that Curley's wife's confession, especially, could have gotten her in a lot of trouble, and did.