Of Mice and Men

curley the bosses son

why does Curley, the bosses son, automatically hate lennie?

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Curly has a major case of "small guy complex". He goes after Lennie because he is a big guy and Curly does not expect him to fight back. Curley sees Lennie's vulnerability and abuses it right away. Candy explains,

"Well, Curley's pretty handy," the swamper said skeptically. "Never did seem right to me. S'pose Curley jumps a big guy an' licks him. Ever'body says what a game guy Curley is. And s'pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever'body says the big guy oughtta pick on somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seem like Curley ain't givin' nobody a chance." (Chapter2)