Why did Lennie kill curlys wife?

Answer 1

It is accidental - he strokes her hair too hard, forgets to let go and breaks her neck in the process.
Similar to how he kills the mice and the puppy by mistake, this is also a circumstance where he underestimates his own strength and doesn't realise how what he is doing is wrong.

When he is stroking her hair, she tells him to let go, but he panics and instead of doing so holds on. She then begins shouting and screaming as she is scared, which makes him angry as he doesn't want anyone else to hear or else George will angry with him - George told him not to talk to Curley's wife so he is desperate not to get caught. When she doesn't stop screaming, he keeps holding on, still panicked, before his shakes her and her neck breaks.

Also: "Her body flopped like a fish." - same as Curley when he gets his hand broken - "Curley was flopping like a fish on a line."

Answer 2

Curley's wife came into the barn to talk to Lennie and Lennie made a comment about his future rabbits. Lennie explained that he likes to touch soft things like the small animals. Curley's wife said she could relate because she likes to touch her soft hair sometimes. She then told Lennie to feel her hair. He was touching it but she asked him to stop because he was messing it up. She started screaming because he wouldn't stop. Lennie was afraid he would get in trouble if someone heard so he cupped his hand over her mouth. She was still screaming and struggling so Lennie shook her a bit and broke her neck by accident.

Answer 3

She offered to let him touch her hair, because Lennie told her that he liked to touch soft things. He pets it for a while and she tells him to stop but he won't. This scares her and she begins to scream so her grabs her hair harder because he doesn't know what to do. Due to the fact that Lennie is unaware how strong he is, he picks her up and covers her mouth to keep her from screaming but in the process accidentally breaks her neck.

Answer 4

In chapter 5 " Of Mice and Men" Lennie gets mad at Curley's wife because she started to scream when Lennie ran his fingers through her hair , he was touching her hair too harshly . Lennie didnt like the fact that she was screaming for no appearant reason and Lennie would get introuble by George.

Answer 5

Lennie accidentally killed Curley's wife by panicking and unintentionally breaking her neck when she panicked after she let him stroke her hair too rough. Lennie did not mean to harm her but his lack of understanding his own strength led to the tragic outcome.