Essay
Of Mice and Men Curley Essay GCSE
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An essay on the character Curley from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Written for GCSE.
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Curley tries to prove himself by picking fghts with big guys. We hear “he hates big guys” because heis small, and he is “alla tme making scraps with big guys”. Curley’s height defnes him in the novella
as he is described as “scrappy”, alike how Lennie is big and therefore dumb, Curley’s Wife is a
woman and therefore deceitul etc. The reader soon learns he picks fghts as he is insecure, Curley
relates strongly to the Napoleon Complex. The Napoleon Complex is when a smaller man has overly-
aggressive or dominant social behaviour, and this behaviour makes up for his short stature. Curley
fghtng bigger men always works out for him too. “Evverybody says what a game guy Curley is” if he
wins a fght, as he has just fought a man much bigger than him. This would gain him ultmate
respect. However, even if Curley loses the fght he does not lose respect as “the big guy oughta pick
on someone his own size.” Although, when Lennie wins the fght against him Curley does not blame
him, this could be because he respects Slim but also could show that Curley worries if he lets people
know what happened then he will be laughed at, this could be sheer humiliaton of losing a fght or
humiliaton that he lost a fght against a man with learning disabilites. Curley knows how to prove
himself on the ranch, something he may have fgured out to compensate for his insecurity about his
height.
Curly tries to uphold an image by using his wife to make him look beter as he uses her as a trophy.
Curley wears a “glove fulla Vaseline” and says this is because he is “keeping that hand sof for his
wife.” This suggests Curley wants to show of to the other men, using his wife to make him seem
bigger and above other men. Candy tells George that Curley is “keeping that hand sof for his wife”
which illustrates Curley openly tells the other men about as he wants everyone to know. This
emphasizes the treatment of women in 1930s America, and how they were viewed as possessions
and sexualised. Other readers may think that Curley wears the glove to send a clear message to the
other men on the ranch that his wife belongs to him as she is accused of firtng with the other men,
Curley needs to make sure they know that she belongs to him. This emphasizes how women were
not seen as equals, but as possessions. However, we see that their relatonship is not as Curley
portrays it to be as he makes obscene illusions about his wife but stll goes to brothels. This suggests
to the reader that their relatonship is not as Curley makes out it to be, and that the “glove fulla
Vaseline” isn’t for what Curley said it is for and is purely to brag and show of, this may be because
he wants to make up for his height. He does not have power in his appearance and could easily look
weak, but by using his wife he has sexual power.
Curley has a rather dysfunctonal relatonship with his wife. Steinbeck never presents the two, Curley
and his wife together in the novella. This could be because he wanted to show the reader how the
two are not as close as a married couple should be. We never see their relatonship, we only hear
stories, and this illustrates how the two are not married for love. Their dysfunctonal relatonship
does not stop here, however. The “glove fulla Vaseline” could be interpreted diferently, not being
used as a trophy. Curley’s Wife wears make up on the ranch. She is said to have “heavily made up
eyes”, she may be being beaten Curley and the makeup she is described to wear is covering bruises.
This is emphasized by Steinbeck writng she has a “britle nasal tone” when speaking which could be
because she has a broken nose afer being abused. Finally, the “glove fulla Vaseline” Curley is said to
wear may be covering bruises on his hands from hitng his wife.
Curley represents the injustce and social hierarchy of the dirty thirtes SA. Candy at the start of the
novella says Curley “won’t ever get canned cause his old man’ the boss”, this illustrates the
unfairness on the ranch as Curley won’t face any of the same punishments the others face. Curley is
above others in the ranch, however in all of American 1930s society he would not have been at the
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