CURLEY

CHARACTER SUMMARY

Curley, the son of the ranch’s boss, is a mean and power-hungry individual obsessed with
securing the respect and submission of the individuals beneath him. Short in stature,
nervous, and yet obsessed with proving his strength and masculinity, Curley is constantly
being undermined by his flirtatious wife even as he tries harder and harder over the
course of the novel to make himself seem socially and sexually dominant. The laborers on
the ranch don’t respect Curley at all and go so far as to call him a “yella” coward to his
face. Still, they’re forced to support Curley in his struggles against Lennie and follow
Curley when he plans to retaliate against Lennie for killing his wife— even though he
knows, on some level, that Lennie did not kill her out of any ill intent, but rather by
accident.
 CHARACTER SUMMARY

According to Candy, Curley is an amateur boxer and is always picking fights, especially
with guys who are bigger than he is. Curley tries to prove his masculinity by picking
fights. Another way to prove himself is by marrying a physically attractive woman. His
wife is never given a name, but by calling her "Curley's wife," Steinbeck indicates she is
his possession. Curley refuses to let her talk to anyone on the ranch, isolating her from
everyone and setting the stage for trouble. He makes a big show of keeping his hand soft
to caress her yet patronizes the local whorehouse on Saturday night. While he may strut
around the ranch because of his position as the boss' son, he obviously cannot satisfy his
wife and is mean to her. Curley beats up any man who dares to talk to her; the only one
he listens to and seems to respect is Slim.
 Curley in each chapter...
Chapter two – We are introduced to Curley, we find out his appearance and that he is a boxer. He immediately gets
into a boxing position when he spies Lennie = defensive. We learn that he likes to pick fights all the time. George states
that I Curley messes with Lennie he will get hurt foreshadowing the end of the novel.

Chapter three – We learn that “Curley’s pants is just crawlin’ with ants” because of his wife’s wandering eye. Curley
then enters the chapter looking for Slim as he presumes that Slim is alone with his wife. When Curley comes back with
Slim a fight breaks out (pages 70-74). Carlson and Candy begin insulting Curley causing Curley to get insecure,
defensive and aggressive. Unfortunately, Lennie is in the wrong place at the wrong time and Curley attacks him. This is
a ruthless and cruel fight in which Curley continues to attack Lennie even thought Lennie doesn’t fight back and “cries
in terror”. However, George tells Lennie to fight back and then Lennie really hurts Curley’s arm. Slim blackmails
Curley and states that his arm got caught in a machine.
Curley in each chapter...
Chapter Five – Curley wife talks about how much she does not like Curley and how badly he treats
her. Lennie kills her and when Curley finds out, he instantly gets more excited about killing Lennie
rather than being upset over his wife.

Chapter Six – Curley celebrates Lennie’s death.

 Curley key quotes in Chapter two...
1. “ A thin young man with a brown face and tightly curled hair. He wore a work glove on his left hand and, like the
boss, he wore high-heeled boots.”

2. “He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed his
fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious.”

3. “Curley’s pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. He’s a lightweight, and he’s handy.”

4. “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 bug guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always scrappy?”

5. “This Curley seems like a son-of-a-bitch to me. I don’t like mean little guys.” (said by George)

6. “Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife.”
 Curley key quotes in chapter three...
1. “Curley looked threateningly about the room. ‘Where the hell’s Slim?”

2. “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier.”

3. “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right.”

4. “Then Curley attacked his stomach and cut off his wind.”

5. “Curley slashed at his eyes.”

6. “Come on,ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me . I’ll show
you who’s yella.”

7. “The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big
hand.”

8. “He stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie’s paw.”

 Curley key quotes chapter five...
1. “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” (said by Curley’s wife).

2. Curley suddenly came to life. “I know who done it,” he cried. “That big son-of-a-bitch. I know he
done it.” ... He worked himself into a fury. “I’m going to get him. I’m going for my shotgun. “I’ll
kill that big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts.”

3. “Curley’s face reddened. “I’m goin’,” he said. “I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard
myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.”
 Curley key quotes chapter six...
1. “Got him, by God.” (excited over Lennie’s death).
 KEY QUOTES
1. “ A thin young man with a brown face and tightly curled hair. He wore a work glove
on his left hand and, like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots.”

2. “He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and
pugnacious.”

3. “He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys”.

4. “Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife.”

5. “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier.”

6. “Then Curley attacked his stomach and cut off his wind.”

7. “The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was
lost in Lennie’s big hand.”

8. “Curley’s face reddened. “I’m goin’,” he said. “I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that
big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.”
CHARACTER TRAITS
 CRUEL

Curley is viewed as cruel by the other men on the ranch as he

abuses his power of being the boss' son. We see this in how badly
and unfairly he treats people. E.G CROOKS AND LENNIE. We
really see how cruel Curley is in chapter three when he brutally
attacks the innocent Lennie and is relentless in his violence
towards him even though Lennie begs for him to stop.

Another reason that Curley is considered cruel is due to the way

he treats his wife. He does not let any of the other men on the
ranch speak to her due to his own insecurities meaning that his
wife is always lonely and depressed.
 Evidence

1. “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then

smashed down his nose with a right.”
2. “Then Curley attacked his stomach and cut off his
wind.”
3. “Curley slashed at his eyes.”
4. “Curley’s face reddened. “I’m goin’,” he said. “I’m
gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself,
even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.”
 Aggressive and
violent
In our first introduction to Curley we can see that he
is an aggressive and violent man as he instantly takes
a defensive position like a boxer ready to fight when
he sees Lennie for the first time.

Steinbeck continues Curley’s violent and aggressive

qualities throughout the novel as shown in chapter
three when he cruelly attacks Lennie even though
Lennie does not defend himself. His aggressive and
violent tendencies are shown again in his eagerness
to kill Lennie in chapters 5 and 6. Steinbeck shows
that proving himself to be the most physically
powerful male in the novel is all Curley cares about
as he his not upset over his wife’s death at all.
 Evidence
1. “He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms
gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed his fists. He
stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once
calculating and pugnacious.”
2. “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 bug guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always
scrappy?”
3. “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose
with a right.”
4. “Then Curley attacked his stomach and cut off his wind.”
5. “Curley slashed at his eyes.”
6. “Curley’s face reddened. “I’m goin’,” he said. “I’m gonna shoot the
guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m
gonna get ‘im.”
 Insecure
Curley is also a deeply insecure character. His fragile masculinity
and insecurities in his relationship have given him ‘small dog
syndrome’. This is often used to describe someone who acts
aggressive and dominant to make up for their small stature. We
see them when Curley first meets Lennie and instantly moves into
a boxing position to appear more intimidating and when he
attacks Lennie to show his power in chapter three. However, this
back fires for him and instead he is seen as cruel and mean. He
wants to be the most respected man on the ranch and tries to
achieve this by acting aggressive and by making it known that he
is the bosses son. This does not work for him and ultimately slim
is the most respected man on the ranch. Slim is the complete
opposite of Curley in every way.
 Insecure
Curley’s insecurities also stem from his relationship
with his wife. He does not let her speak to other
members of men on the ranch because of his own
jealously. He is fearful that she will leave him and
sleep with other men on the ranch. Curley only
shows this by acting even more aggressive and
cruel to the other men who are completely innocent.
 Evidence

1. “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 bug
guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you?
Always scrappy?”

2. “Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his

wife.”

3. “Curley looked threateningly about the room.

‘Where the hell’s Slim?”
Appearance

“a thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and tightly curled hair. He wore glove on his hand, and, like the boss, he wore high heeled boots.” PG 27
- his tightly curled hair is an indication to how tightly wound and agitated he is. He is full of tension and always ready for a fight.
- his boots indicate that he is a higher class than the rest of the men and does not work like his dad. Social context comes into play here.
- the glove that he wears on his hand is symbolic of his fragile masculinity and his insecurities. He keep his hand soft to please his wife as he is scared she will find another man.
-

-
Curley’s relationship with the other
characters

LENNIE – Curley is CURLEY’S WIFE – Curley

threatened by Lennie due to and his wife do not have a
Lennie’s intimidating height good relationship. Due to his
and build. Curley is insecure own insecurities, Curley
SLIM – Slim is the complete
about his own appearance and isolates her and this causes her
opposite to Curley in every
therefore acts aggressive and to hate him. Curley’s wife
way. Slim is respected,
cruel towards Lennie. He also expresses that she does not
reasonable and emotionally
becomes insecure about like him. Their relationship is
intelligent, whereas Curley is
Lennie and his wife. Curley is very sexual with Curley
not. This causes Curley to
too caught up in proving keeping his hand soft for her.
resent Slim.
himself that he does not see But he contradicts himself by
that Lennie is innocent and also visiting the local brothel
naive due to his learning regularly and therefore
difficulties. disrespects their relationship.
 GEORGE – From the beginning, George does not like Curley and predicts that he
will cause trouble for Lennie, foreshadowing the end of the novel.

Curley’s CANDY- Candy also does not like Curley due to how cruel he is. He joins in with
Carlson when insulting Curley stating “Glove fulla vaseline,” he said disgustedly.”
relationship
with other
characters. CROOKS- Curley is very racist and unfair to Crooks.

For the most part, all of the characters dislike Curley in some way. He is a very
unlikable character due to his cruel personality and his status of being the boss’
son. He represents a higher class of people compared to the other men
demonstrating how at the time there was hostility between classes due to the
Great Depression.
Themes
Steinbeck uses this portrayal of Curley to criticize the nature of
American society and power in the 1930s- those who have
power, like Curley, exert their power over others, perhaps who
they secretly fear or perceive as weak, to get over their own
personal convictions.

Curley is symbolic of "small" people who may feel inferior and

overcompensate by inflating or flaunting their power and
status.

As well as this, he also fits into themes of loneliness,

aggression and insecurities.
 VIOLENT VERBS AND IMAGERY

BODY LANAGUAGE

LITERARY
SIMILE – COMPARED TO A TERRIER
TECHNIQUES
DIALOGUE – USES A LOT OF SWEAR
WORDS AND GRAPHIC IMAGERY

HOW OTHER CHARACTERS TALK

ABBOUT HIM.