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In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, why doesn't Curley's wife like talking to her husband?

Curley and Curley's wife seem to have a dysfunctional relationship. For one thing, they are always looking for each other without success. Twice in Chapter Two, Curley bursts into the bunkhouse looking for her. The second time he has just missed her. Their marriage obviously lacks communication and the only time they are in the same room together is when she is already dead. In Chapters Four and Five, Curley's wife reveals more about her...

Curley and Curley's wife seem to have a dysfunctional relationship. For one thing, they are always looking for each other without success. Twice in Chapter Two, Curley bursts into the bunkhouse looking for her. The second time he has just missed her. Their marriage obviously lacks communication and the only time they are in the same room together is when she is already dead. In Chapters Four and Five, Curley's wife reveals more about her life with Curley, first in Crooks's room and later with Lennie alone in the barn. In Chapter Four, when she enters Crooks's room, she is predictably looking for her husband. It seems to be an excuse to spend time talking to the men. She says she doesn't like talking to Curley because he is forever bragging about fighting and how he's going to beat someone up:






“Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t like, and he don’t like nobody. Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twicet, and then bring in the ol’ right cross? ‘One-two,’ he says. ‘Jus’ the ol’ one-two an’ he’ll go down.’”









Later, in Chapter Five, when she is alone with Lennie in the barn, she confesses that she doesn't even like Curley:






“Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughten to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” 






She only married him in order to defy her mother, who had supposedly stolen a letter about a potential job as an actress. She also expresses her loneliness to Lennie and allows him to stroke her hair, which turns out to be a very bad idea. Her dislike for Curley and her intense loneliness prove to be her eventual undoing. 




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