Character Analysis Of Curley And Charlie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Facades of Curley and Charlie in Of Mice and Men and The Sun Is Also a Star In the novels Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Curley, the boss’ son, and Charlie Bae, the older brother of Daniel, are insecure people who display their malevolence when Curley targets Lennie and Charlie makes Daniel’s life harder by ridiculing his relationship with Natasha. Their dominance is shown as Curley flaunts his privileged position on the ranch and Charlie struts his superiority over his younger brother. On the other hand, they convey their anger differently, since Curley is willing to start a quarrel with anyone that is bigger than him, while Charlie’s hostility is limited to just his family. Also, Charlie

Displaying his uneasiness about his size, Curley is portrayed as a small man who is jealous of those that are bigger than him and tries proves himself by fighting against them. When the swamper, Candy, introduces him to George and Lennie he specifies that “‘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” (Steinbeck 26). Also after Lennie returns from playing with Slim’s new puppies in the barn, Curley stopped by their bunkhouse looking for his wife and shows his fear of her being with other men at the ranch, especially Slim, asking, “‘Any you guys seen my wife?’ he demanded. ‘She ain’t been here,’ said Whit. Curley looked threateningly around the room. ‘Where the hell’s Slim?’” (53). He shows his malevolence through his unnecessary need to provoke a fight with Lennie, even though the big man did not directly attack him in any way, but after first seeing Lennie, Curley is described: “His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and

In the beginning of the book, Daniel shows Charlie’s contempt towards his Korean heritage while growing up by recalling an incident from when Charlie was eight years old and called his brother ‘Hyung,’ the Korean word for the title of an older brother, and his brother’s“whole face turned red - cheeks, nose, tips of his ears - the whole thing. He practically was aglow.” (Yoon 12-13). After Daniel embarrassed Charlie in front of his friends, he showed his dependence on what his friends think about him when, to see their reaction, “His eyes darted sideways to where his friends were watching us like we were on TV”(13). Charlie is also malevolent and Daniel shows this quality of his by listing reasons why he thinks his brother is an asshole, describing Charlie as “not kind. He is smug, and, worst of all, he is a bully. He’s an asshole. An inveterate one” (6) He shows his superiority to his little brother as well in the book and continues to act as though he is better than him. When Daniel and Natasha are confronted by Charlie in the family store, he patronizes him, treating the encounter as a way to taunt his brother: “‘What’s up, Charlie?’ he asks. ‘The. Sky. Is. Up. Little brother,’ says Charlie. I get the feeling he’s been using that phrase that same way for all their lives. He’s looking at me as he says it, his face is more sneer than smile” (Yoon 137-138). Unlike