The Character Of Curley In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Steinbeck uses dialogue to portray his character Curley as confident but insecure in his novel, Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck’s characters are able to connect with each other due to the fact that they are outcasts. Curley is short, so he is considered a “thin young man” (27) which makes him very self-conscious. He puts up a confident front to hide how insecure he is about his small frame. Curley masks his insecurities throughout the book by picking on Lennie who is mentally slow and attacking Lennie in the bunkhouse. Curley seems to like to fight bigger men because, “he’s mad at em’ because he ain’t a big guy” (29). He is self-conscious about his height and feels the need to prove to himself and to others that height is not everything. Curley …show more content…
And s’pose he does the same and gets licked” (29). The larger guy will be “ganged up on,” and be told to “pick somebody his own size” (29). Therefore, Curley wins and looks good regardless if he actually wins the fight. This helps Curley’s large insecurities because he feels like he is more powerful than the bigger man, and in this way he copes with the unalterable fact that he is short and thin. Curley is also characterized by the author as being overly confident. He always seems to be angry at Lennie. He repeatedly calls Lennie names and taunts him. When Lennie was just smiling, Curley lashed out to him screaming, “no big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me” (68). Curley is confident enough to constantly insult others, and he expects to get away with it. Curley is only able to be so rude to Lennie, because Lennie is mentally unstable. He is able to get a kick out of feeling more “like a man” than Lennie who is mentally handicapped, helping him feel better about being a smaller man. As he is the boss's son, Curley demands respect by commanding others, “well, nex’ time you answer when you’re spoke to” (28). Moreover, the small amount of authority that Curley has on the farm makes him even more
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