How Does Steinbeck Present Curley in the Fight Scene Essay Example

bone to pick with big guys but the writer doesn’t give us much background information on Curley.

One thing that we do know about Curley is that he was a welterweight boxer as Carlton says “You’re yella as a frog belly. I don’t care if you’re the best welter in the country”. We don’t know why he stopped boxing; perhaps it could be linked to why he dislikes big guys. Steinbeck presents Curley as a punk, he tries to give the ranch workers the usual nonsense but this time I wasn’t working.

The moment Slim stood up for himself and embarrasses Curley and everyone decides to joins in on the fun, in order to hold on to the dignity he has left he chooses to fight Lenny without a valid reason, as he says “What the hell you laughin’ at? ”. While Lenny and George have the American dream, Curley in this case represents reality and it’s harshness. “No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella. ”

This quote shows us that Curley is mad at Carlson but instead he chooses to fight Lenny nstead who he thinks is less of an opponent but ends up humiliated. Steinbeck conveys Curley’s powerlessness in this scene as well as foreshadowing Curley’s wife’s death in the hands of Lenny. We know this because “Curley was flopping like a fish on a line” and later on Curley’s wife also “flops like a fish” in the hands of Lenny. One concept that Steinbeck clearly borrows from Charles Darwin is the concept of survival of the fittest. The characters can be described as

fit or unfit for their social roles on the basis of their physical and intellectual abilities.