The Fight (Lennie and Curley)

In my mind, a fight between Lennie and Curley was inevitable. The tempers had just been rising and rising between them. Don’t forget that Curley doesn’t like big people because he is small. Just one laugh, one thing would put Curley over the edge. That happened when “Lennie was still smiling with delight at the memory of the ranch.” (62) Curley interpreted this as laughing about him and he started the fight. It seemed to me it was only Curley who wanted the fight. The entire time Lennie is just trying to avoid him. It is so difficult to read about Lennie’s helplessness. I also think Curley is just insecure about himself. So, he puts it all out on Lennie. Like the case for most bullies except the fact is Lennie is the big one and the victim while Curley is the small one and the bully. I think it is also very interesting how George doesn’t help Lennie at the beginning of the fight. He tells him to fight. I think Lennie was so frightened about the fight that he couldn’t move a muscle he was that scared. He just froze. I think that Curley is clearly a bully and Lennie was scared throughout the entire fight.

What do you think about the fight?