In Of Mice and Men, why does Curley pick a fight with Lennie, the strongest of all the men, instead of George?

punk," he
said. "You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an' you couldn't make it stick. slim
throwed a scare inta you. You're yella as a frog belly. I don't care if you're the best
welter in the country. You come for me, and I'll kick your God damn head
off."

For somebody who is as
proud and arrogant as Curley, this is unacceptable and so he seeks to find an easy
target that he can take his anger out on and also convince himself that he is no as
"yella as a frog belly." Lennie is still lost in his daydream of the farm, and smiling
abstractedly, thus Curley thinks he is laughing at him and picks him. It is because of
the context of being made fun of that Curley feels he has to prove
himself:

Then
Curley's rage exploded. "Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big
son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's
yella."

This of course ends
in even further humiliation for him as Lennie

Of course,
the context of this passage is key to understanding why it is that Curley picks on
Lennie. He is being made fun off by the other men in the ranch because they recognise
how weak he actually is as a character. Note what Carlson says to Curley just before he
turns to
Lennie:

For
somebody who is as proud and arrogant as Curley, this is unacceptable and so he seeks to
find an easy target that he can take his anger out on and also convince himself that he
is no as "yella as a frog belly." Lennie is still lost in his daydream of the farm, and
smiling abstractedly, thus Curley thinks he is laughing at him and picks him. It is
because of the context of being made fun of that Curley feels he has to prove
himself:

Then
Curley's rage exploded. "Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big
son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's
yella."

This of course ends
in even further humiliation for him as Lennie

Of course,
the context of this passage is key to understanding why it is that Curley picks on
Lennie. He is being made fun off by the other men in the ranch because they recognise
how weak he actually is as a character. Note what Carlson says to Curley just before he
turns to Lennie:

readability="10">

Carlson laughed. "You God damn punk," he said.
"You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an' you couldn't make it stick. slim throwed a
scare inta you. You're yella as a frog belly. I don't care if you're the best welter
in the country. You come for me, and I'll kick your God damn head
off."

For somebody who is as
proud and arrogant as Curley, this is unacceptable and so he seeks to find an easy
target that he can take his anger out on and also convince himself that he is no as
"yella as a frog belly." Lennie is still lost in his daydream of the farm, and smiling
abstractedly, thus Curley thinks he is laughing at him and picks him. It is because of
the context of being made fun of that Curley feels he has to prove
himself:

Then
Curley's rage exploded. "Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big
son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's
yella."

This of course ends
in even further humiliation for him as Lennie