It should be noted that part of John Steinbeck's technique in Of Mice and Men is to create conflict in every chapter of the story. In order for a story to be interesting it must be dramatic. The poet Robert Frost has said:
Everything written is as good as it is dramatic. It need not declare itself in form, but it is drama or nothing.
Drama always involves conflict. It could be inner conflict, or external conflict, or both at the same time. Steinbeck's story does not have an obvious ongoing conflict throughout the book. Instead, he presents a series of conflicts. For example, in the first chapter there is a conflict between George and Lennie over a mouse. Then there is a bigger quarrel in which George berates Lennie for his chronic misbehavior and Lennie offers to go away and live by himself. George also shows that he has an inner conflict. He feels that Lennie is becoming an increasingly heavy burden, but he feels obligated to keep Lennie with him so that he can look after him.
Then in the second chapter the two men just want to sign on and get their bunks. But Steinbeck creates a purely gratuitous conflict between George and the Boss. There seems to be a good possibility that George and Lennie might not get their jobs, even after traveling all this way from San Francisco.
In the next chapter, Steinbeck creates a minor conflict between George and Candy over the can of bug powder. This is just conflict for the sake of conflict. A much bigger conflict develops when Curley enters the bunkhouse and picks a quarrel with both George and Lennie. Steinbeck is following his set plan of creating conflicts to hold the reader's interest.
Curley and Lennie have a conflicting relationship because Lennie gets off to a wrong start by refusing to talk to Curley.
George said, "S'pose he don't want to talk?"
Curley lashed his body around. "By Christ, he's gotta talk when he's spoke to. What the hell are you gettin' into it for?"
Lennie is experiencing his own inner conflict because George told him not to talk and Curley is telling him he has to talk. Lennie is not competent to handle such internal conflicts.
Candy explains that Curley hates big guys because he is a little guy. He is always trying to pick fights with big guys. Curley is portrayed as a man with an inferiority complex because of his small size. This explains why he has developed his muscles and taken up boxing.
Another apparent reason for Curley's conflict with Lennie is that he thinks Lennie is afraid of him. Lennie is really afraid of getting into trouble. Curley will eventually make the mistake of hitting Lennie viciously for no reason. This will lead to one of the biggest conflicts in the book--the brief fight between these two men. Lennie crushes Curley's hand. After this Curley hates him and will want to kill him when Curley's dead wife is discovered in the barn.
There are many other conflicts in the book, including the conflict between Candy and Carlson, who wants to kill Candy's old dog. The climactic conflict occurs in the barn when Lennie gets a grip on Curley's wife's soft curls and won't let go.
"Don't you go yellin'," he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.
There is no reasoning with Curley. He leads the other men in a lynching party. It is a moot question whether he wants revenge for his wife's apparent murder or for his mangled hand. George prevents Curley from having his complete revenge, but George must be experiencing an intense inner conflict over what he should do. He seems to have many alternatives, including helping Lennie escape. But all the conflicts end when George fires a single shot with Carlson's gun.
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