Previous
Allusions
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Looloo:
George and Whit, a young ranch hand, play cards and discuss Curly’s wife. In their conversation, they use a number of idioms that reflect their rural, Western dialect in the early 20th century:
George dealt and Whit picked up his cards and examined them. “Seen the new kid yet?” he asked.
“What kid?” George asked.
“Why, Curley’s new wife.”
“Yeah, I seen her.”
“Well, ain’t she a looloo?”
“I ain’t seen that much of her,” said George.
Whit laid down his cards impressively. “Well, stick around an’ keep your eyes open. You’ll see plenty. She ain’t concealin’ nothing. I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye. I don’t know what the hell she wants.”
Whit describes Curly’s wife as a “looloo,” an old-fashioned slang term which means an attractive woman who dresses provocatively. His use of this slang term here reflects the generally misogynistic views of the laborers on the ranch, who regard women with distrust.
George attempts to shift the conversation to a new topic, but Whit continues, noting that she “got the eye goin’ all the time” on everybody. Here, he uses another idiom specific to the historical setting of the novella, one that suggests that she is attempting to catch the attention of, or seduce, the men on the ranch. He then adds that she “even gives the stable buck the eye,” a point which surprises Whit because Crooks, the stable hand, is Black—and Whit clearly assumes that a white woman wouldn't be interested in a Black man. These idioms and the dialect of the ranch workers embeds the story in its historical and cultural context.
Related Themes:
