Why does curly hate Lennie so much?
Curly is the son of the owner of the ranch. He is a relativily short man, with a lot of swagger to go around. When Curly comes across the new guys, George and Lennie, he takes a instant disliking to Lennie. But why? The answers lies within the fact that Curly hates tall man. A theory why is because he feels insuperior to tall men. He does not like the way they tower over him because he is a short man. He thinks that tall men are more dominant over short men. Because Lennie is "6 foot tall, a big man", he takes out his anger on him by making snide remarks and putting Lennie on the spot. "let the big man talk". While it is unclear whether Curly knows that Lennie posses a intellectual disability while not being able to remember anything, it is certainly clear curly will take advantage on that to pick on Lennie.
Good observations, Peter, about Curley feeling inferior to taller man. I think Curley wants to prove a point that despite his smaller size, he is not afraid to fight a taller, larger man. If Curley is victorious against taller, larger men, it proves he is that much stronger and powerful to take down a giant. Since Curley has received boxing awards, he may feel he can defeat larger man by being quick on his feet and attacking them first.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you are right peter, but you must think back to why he has a lot of swagger. You can see that on page 27 they "Don't tell Curley I said none of this. He'd slough me. He just don't give a damn. Won't ever get canned 'cause his old man's the boss. Here it shows that he is the owner of the ranches son, which in his mind entitles him to being the most important out of everyone and that if someone calls him out on the stuff he does, he'll just tell his dad something else and he will get away with it. Therefore, he wants to assert his dominance to show how tough he is
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