Of Mice and Men York Notes

Curley is the son of the 'Boss', the owner of the ranch, and is a small man who likes fighting. Lennie injures him when Curley picks a fight, and Curley cannot be that good a fighter as he loses so easily against Lennie who is not very clever. Curley seems to be worried about where his wife is all the time, 'You seen a girl round here?'

Curley is cruel, and joins in the hunt for Lennie at the end of the novel saying he wants to shoot Lennie 'in the guts'. Curley seems to think he is a good fighter, and his wanting to be a boxer is one of the dreams the author writes about in the novel, which makes him important.

No one likes Curley in the novel, not even his own wife, and he is very unpopular. He does nothing to harm Lennie, but hates him. He thinks Slim is having an affair with his wife, but has no proof of this.

Curley does not like the ranch hands and is very unhappy doing the work he does, which might be a reason for him being like he is. He is not a nice person, and causes a lot of trouble for everyone. He keeps Vaseline in one of his gloves and visits the local brothel on Saturday nights, showing that he is lonely. His wife does not love him, and maybe even wishes she had not married him.

Curley is one of the most important people in the novel and his wife plays a major part in the story. Even though he throws his weight around and causes fear we can also see him as a small man who is unhappy, like other men on the ranch.