Expert Answers
The most elemental reason that Curley picks the fight with Lennie is
to prove he can
. The perception of Curley being “yella as a frog belly” and publicly shamed eats away at him. Slim’s challenging of Curley in such a demonstrative manner has caused Curley to be even more sensitive….
Why does Curley fight slim?
Curley attacks
Lennie because he assumes that Lennie is smiling at him
. Curley thinks that Lennie is enjoying the insults made at Curley’s expense. The insults are about the hand that Curley keeps soft for his wife, the “Glove fulla vaseline” as Candy taunts.
Why does Curley like to fight bigger guys?
Curley’s hatred of “big guys” comes
from his own small stature
. This is a reflection of his own insecurity and his own experience as a boxer. … Curley holds an antagonistic element towards those who are bigger than him in terms of his own insecurity in being of a small stature.
Why does Curley confront and fight Lennie?
Why does Curley attack Lennie? After Slim denies Curley’s accusation that he was hanging around Curley’s wife,
Curley looks to take his anger out on an easier target
, and chooses Lennie. Lennie is “smiling with delight” as he dreams about the future farm, ignorant that he has attracted Curley’s humiliated anger.
What is Curley afraid of?
Curley fears
losing status
so much because he knows his status isn’t earned but instead comes from his position as the boss’s son. Fear is the price he pays for his ownership of the land, and this same fear trickles down to everyone who works the land.
Is Lennie afraid of Curley?
George explains to Slim that Lennie didn’t mean to hurt Curley;
he was just scared
. Because of what he has done, Lennie is afraid he won’t get to tend the rabbits on their farm.
Who Shot Candy’s dog?
The first reason
Carlson
gives for shooting Candy’s dog is its old age. Carlson begins by explaining to Slim that Candy’s dog is so old he can hardly walk. Carlson then begins to complain about the smell of the old dog.
Who does Curley think his wife is with?
George responds by telling Curley that
Slim
went to the barn about ten minutes ago, and Curley runs out of the bunkhouse after him. Curley is clearly anxious about his wife being around Slim and is under the impression that she is having an affair with him. Later on, Curley and Slim get into an argument over his wife.
Why is Curley’s wife nameless?
Curley’s
wife is never called by her own name as a way of depicting her lack of independence
. By only referring to her as Curley’s wife, her identity is confined to the limited, dependent role she must play in her marriage.
What is Lennie’s reaction when he kills the puppy?
Lennie becomes so angry that he hurls the dead puppy across the barn
. Shortly after having thrown the puppy, Lennie picks it up again, stroking it and deciding that maybe George won’t care. Curley’s wife enters the barn and asks Lennie what he has. Lennie repeats George’s instructions that he is not to talk to her.
Why does crooks not want Lennie in his room?
Crooks doesn’t want Lennie in his room
because it is the one space he has that is his–he’s “lord” of his humble abode in the barn
. Additionally, Crooks is forbidden from most of the places or activities associated with the white men on the ranch; so this is his opportunity to control the situation for once.
Why doesn’t Curley expose the fact that Lennie broke his hand?
Why doesn’t Curley expose the fact that Lennie broke his hand?
He is afraid of Slim. He is too proud and embarrassed
. Lennie didn’t break his hand, he damaged it in a machine.
Is Curley’s wife afraid of him?
She is
afraid of losing this feeling and sensation
, which is why she invites Lennie to do so and, in the process, invites her own doom upon her.
Is Curley’s wife afraid of Curley?
Curley’s hostility comes from the fear that his wife, who walks around the bunkhouse and the barn where workers are,
will flirt or even engage sexually with these men
, and, thus, embarrass him as the boss’s son.
Is Curley a boxer?
Curley is a “thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair.” According to Candy, Curley is
an amateur boxer
and is always picking fights, especially with guys who are bigger than he is. Curley tries to prove his masculinity by picking fights.
What is Lennie most afraid of?
Lennie’s dream is to tend to rabbits on a farm with George, his best friend. His fear is
that he will do something bad enough someday that will cause
…
