Curley

Curley is “the boss’s son” (page 29). He is disliked by the workers due to his pugnacious
and arrogant attitudes. This can be seen when “[Curley] glanced coldly at George and then at
Lennie” (page 28) on their first encounter. On page 30 Candy says, “[Curley] just don’t give a
damn. Won’t ever get canned ‘cause his old man’s the boss.” The text reveals that Curley’s
position as the son of his father, the owner of the place (farm), makes him think it is okay to
provoke the workers. He is confident in his fighting skills, but his height/size seems to bother
him. He also has low self-esteem, which explains why he picks on others a lot, especially big
guys. For instance, according to the old man, Candy, “Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates
big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he
ain’t a big guy.” (page 29) Additionally, the word “handy” is used seven times throughout the
book, and five of the times, it is used to describe Curley as being a skillful fighter. In the story, it
states, “ ‘Curley’s pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. He’s a lightweight, and he’s
handy’…‘Well, Curley’s pretty handy,’ ” (page 29) and “...An’ Curley’s handy, God damn
handy. Got in the finals for the Golden Gloves.” (page 59)

Considering this passage from the beginning of the story when Curley was irritated that
Lennie would not reply to him, “Curley lashed his body around. ‘By Christ, he’s gotta talk when
he’s spoke to. What the hell are you gettin’ into for?’ ” (page 28) and another passage towards
the end of the story after Curley figured that Lennie killed his wife, “[Curley] worked himself into
a fury. ‘I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll
shoot ‘im in the guts...” (page 106) Curley is a flat and static character who has not changed at
all throughout the story. Other textual evidence of Curley’s unchanging character is the
incidence on page 68 and 69 when Curley was triggered by his own understanding that Lennie
was mocking him and started punching Lennie. As we can see, Curley was hot-tempered and
belligerent since the beginning of the story until the end.