Curley's Power In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, Curley feels that because of his father’s position of leadership, he has all of his father’s power, which leads to the abuse of his own power, in turn leading to the emotional and physical abuse towards the men who work for his father.
Curley believes that he can do anything to the workers, so he emotionally abuses them with his words and body language. Curley says to Lennie, “No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me”(62). Curley insults Lennie without even knowing what Lennie was laughing about. Curley just needed a reason to insult Lennie and destroy his self confidence. Curley says unpleasant profanities to the men constantly. With Curley lowering everyone’s confidence with his insults, his is boosted; With his confidence boosted, it causes the abuse of power to grow stronger. Curley can also

Curley thinks Slim is having an affair with his wife, so he wants to fight slim and show his dominance. Steinbeck writes, “Curley looked threateningly about the room. ‘Where the hell’s Slim’...Curley jumped out the door and banged it after him”(53-54). Curley is so furious that he will fight Slim without worrying about the consequences. Lucky for Slim, he was not with Curley’s wife so there was no fight. Curley does unfortunately fight Lennie. He knows nothing will happen to him because his father will not fire him or punish him. Curley also knows that if Lennie fights back, he will get in trouble which gives him the advantage. Steinbeck states, “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right”(63). Curley is not going easy on Lennie. It does not matter how much Lennie gets hurt because Curley does not care. He would beat Lennie within an inch of his life if he could. Curley takes his authority too far when he gets physical with Lennie. Curley abuse of power is unacceptable especially because it involves