In Chapter Two of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and
Men, when Curley first enters the bunkhouse, he wears a work glove on his
left hand, and high-heeled boots. As mentioned above, he is a small man, so the boots
suggest that he wishes to appear taller and more imposing. Then, as he eyes "passed
over the new men," he stops. "He glanced coldly at George
and then at Lennie." As soon as he looks at George and Lennie, he goes into a fighter's
stance:
His
arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists. He stiffened and
went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and
pugnacious.
And,
when Lennie squirms under his look and shifts his feet nervously, Curley sees his
intimidated behavior and "stepped gingerly close to him" sensing his advantage, as a
fighter would. Then, when Curley speaks to Lennie, George answers, holding to diffuse
the situation. However, Curley becomes angry and "lashed his body around, yelling at
George to let the "big guy talk" as though he wants Lennie to "start something." As he
turns to leave, he tells Lennie, "Well, nex' time you answer when you're spoke to";
turning, Curley leaves with his elbows still bent in a
combative pose.
After he leaves, Candy tells George that
Curley is "like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys" and tries to prove that he is
tough by fighting them. The old swamper describes Curley as
"handy":
'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 somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right
to me. Seems like Curley ain't givin' nobody a
chance."
No comments:
Post a Comment