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Look, Lennie! This here ain’t no setup. I’m scared. You gonna have trouble with that Curley guy. I seen that kind before. He was kinda feelin’ you out. He figures he’s got you scared and he’s gonna take a sock at you the first chance he gets.
After being told by Candy that Curley is mean-spirited and takes out his insecurity about his short stature by picking fights with larger men, George rightfully sees that Curley will eventually prey on Lennie. Despite Lennie’s gentle nature, Curley, who is obsessed with dominating others, will want to prove his authority over Lennie through physical violence. George’s concern is warranted, (although Lennie could protect himself in a fight) since Curley is the boss’s son, and therefore will always hold a greater position of power over Lennie despite their physical differences.
You don’t know that Curley. Curley gon’ta wanta get ’im lynched. Curley’ll get ’im killed.
Curley is hot-tempered and craves the chance to unleash violence on other men. While George hopes that Lennie might be spared and taken to a mental institution, Candy knows that Curley will never pass up the opportunity to brutally kill someone, especially someone who has caused him injury. While Curley has some justification in seeking vengeance for his wife’s death, his instinct to kill Lennie is less about her loss – as he never viewed her as anything more than an accessory to his power. It’s more about his own appetite for violence.
Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.
Along with being dominated by Curley, Curley’s wife has also experienced other forms of predation, particularly concerning the Hollywood man. The man she meets at the Riverside Dance – whose connection to Hollywood is never actually verified – tells her that he will make her a star. Although it’s not said outright, there’s an implication that the Hollywood man likely made promises he never intended to keep in order to manipulate Curley’s wife into granting him sexual favors. He takes advantage of her desperation to escape her hometown and live a better life, and never contacts her again. Curley’s wife never admits his charade, deluding herself into believing that her mother stole the letter he promised to write.
