How is Curley presented in Of Mice and Men?

In 'Of Mice and Men, Curley is presented as aggressive. careless, a symbolisation of the upper class,
and how insecure about how little he is.

Steinbeck presents Curley as aggressive and violent. Steinbeck shows this when "his hands closed
into a fists" and "He stiffened". These body movements indicate that Curley can be violent. Usually,
when 'hands close into fists', it means that he is preparing for a fight. The way he behaves suggests
that he is always alert and ready to fight, which is linked to him being a boxer. Furthermore, this can
emphasise that he just wants to be more masculine because he feels that he needs to maintain his
dominance over the workers by picking fights with men twice his size. Overall, Curley's body
language reflects his personality and behaviour on other workers by fighting them because of his
size.

Curley is seen as inconsiderate and careless. Steinbeck has presented this character with a beautiful
wife whose character is called 'Curley's wife. The fact that she doesn't have a name shows that the
character is Curley's property. Whenever Curley's wife wasn't with Curley. Curley went to all the men
in the ranch, looking for his possession. Once he finds his wife, he starts up a fight with other men
who were talking to his wife. We see this when “Curley burst into the room excitedly" and says "Any
of you guys seen my wife?" while Curley looked threateningly about the room". This might suggest
that he wants to show the ranch workers that people like to fight for his possession, and he likes the
fact that he gets 'excited about it. Additionally, during the weekends, Curley goes to the local
whorehouse where he uses other women for sexual preferences. This shows how inconsiderate and
carless he is. He doesn't care about his wife. Therefore, we can conclude, that Curley doesn't really
care for his wife and his perspective of her is just his prized possession.

Curley is a representation of the upper class. Curley's character description shows that he is the
ranch owner's son which means that he can have an advantage in the ranch. We see this when
Steinbeck deliberately show the character to get into fights and no one says anything about it
because all the workers fear that their jobs are at stake if they do something that won't please
Curley. In America, the 1930s, all workers lost their jobs due to the Great Depression which might
suggest that if the ranch workers lost their job, it would be difficult to find a new one. Overall, Curley
seems to have the tendency of getting away with things which can show that the upper class gets
away with things because of their power in the industry.

In conclusion, Curley is a violent, inconsiderate character and a symbol of the upper class.