Essay Curley's Wife Character Analysis

Curley Character Analysis

Every story has a hero, a person that readers get to like. Besides that person, almost every story has someone that complicates the protagonist’s life. A character that the audience hates. An antagonist is mostly depicted as negative and bad. They are important, because they make the story interesting, they influence the protagonist’s actions by making their current world increasingly undesirable and presenting obstacles to the story. Curley, a character from the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, represents such a character. He is a controlling, aggressive and selfish man who is an essential component to the tragic outcome of the story.

Curley is a controlling man. He always needs to know where his wife is

When he meets Lennie for the first time, he instantly gets offensive against him. “‘Say, what the hell’s he got on his shoulder? Lennie didn’t do nothing to him.’” (26). Because Curley is short, he despises tall men. “‘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.’” Since he is the boss’s son, he thinks the rules do not apply to him. “‘He’d slough me. He just don’t give a damn. Won’t ever get canned ‘cause his old man’s the boss.’” (27). One evening he started to fight Lennie for no reason. Lennie was smiling and Curley wanted to show him and the other men that he was the strongest. “‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella.’” (62). He started to beat up Lennie, who was to scared to defend himself. When George told him to get him Lennie held onto Curley’s fist and broke his hand. Even though he is a fighter, he had no chance against Lennie. Curley’s aggressiveness is a big component to George’s decision to kill his best friend, because if he wouldn’t have been sure that Curley would have killed him horribly he would have had less reason to end his life.

In the novel Curley shows a lot of selfishness. He only cares about himself and his own reputation and not about the other workers or his wife. He controls them but does not treat them with respect. “‘I’m glad you bust up Curley a little bit. He got it comin’ to him. Sometimes I’d like to bust him myself.’” (81). “‘I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.’” (89). Even though he controls his wife he doesn’t care for her highly. When he learns of her death he is more interested in finding Lennie and killing him, than mourning her death. That behavior shows Curley’s focus on his own well being and