In Of Mice and Men, why does Curley pick a fight with Lennie, the strongest of all the men? As a bully, wouldn't it have been more realistic for...

Curley is working with a rather shrewd strategy in picking a fight with Lennie in Of Mice and Men.

While Curley certain does probably stand a better chance of beating George in a fight in terms of relative size (comparing George and Lennie), Curley seems to feel that picking on Lennie is a win-win scenario for him.

Being so much smaller than Lennie, there is apparently no way for Curley to “lose face” in the fight.

If Lennie wins then it is only because Lennie is the bigger man. In this sense, a lost fight does not necessarily reflect poorly on Curley. But if Curley wins in a fight against a much bigger man then he will be regarded as having achieved something significant. In that case, his prowess as a boxer would be underscored.

In other words, Curley seems to believe he is picking a fight that he does not really have to win when he antagonizes Lennie.

Of course, Curley has no idea that he might be seriously injured in the fight. He also miscalculates the group’s perception of the conflict, having assumed, it would seem, that Lennie would be more easily riled and drawn into a punching fight.

If Curley could get Lennie to box with him, maybe Curley could hold his own with his pugilism skills. At least he would put up a good fight.

Lennie not drawn in like that and is instead brutalized by Curley, refusing to fight back until he is already bloodied. Lennie’s innocence, passiveness and restraint are noted by all the men before George finally encourages Lennie to fight back.

Curley’s win-win is turned into a double loss for him in this way. The group sees Curley’s aggression against the passive Lennie for what it is - - bullying and abuse - - and Curley is then easily and thoroughly defeated by the larger man.

Curley is also unable to play his trump card, which would have been to assert his authority on the ranch as the owner’s son and fire Lennie.

Slim makes sure of this, clarifying the situation for Curley as he sits on the floor nursing his injured hand.

“He knelt down beside Curley. ‘You got your senses in hand enough to listen?’ he asked. Curley nodded. ‘Well, then listen,’ Slim went on. ‘I think you got you han’ caught in a machine. If you don’t tell nobody what happened, we ain’t going to. But you jus’ tell an’ try to get this guy canned and we’ll tell ever’body, an’ then will you get the laugh.’”

Slim voices the opinion of the group when he says that Curley had it coming to him, but this may not have been the prevailing view had Curley picked on someone who he could get angry or who would fight back in a traditional manner.