TW: rape/sexual assault, trauma, abuse, violence.
I don't know if this is still the case, but I remember being so baffled by the lack of nuance the fandom had towards Curly back when the game was really, really popular.
You had people saying he couldn't have done anything better and that he did the best he could, which is very worrying if you genuinely think that way. I am aware that Pony Express is also to blame since they provide no support for situations like this and even make them worse with their policies. I am aware that, given Jimmy's position and their environnement, it was very complicated, or even downright impossible, to simply confine him or properly confront him. That still doesn't change the fact that Curly did not handle the situation well and failed Anya. We see several moments of him patronizing her, scolding her, and even outright cursing at her while she's in the middle of panic attacks.
He fails to remember important details about her trauma, like when he asks, "Who would you..." after she reveals her pregnancy, even though he is supposed to know Jimmy raped her. Notice how he phrases the question as though Anya had fully consented to the act.
It is also implied that he breached her privacy by going through her belongings while searching for the gun. He was indeed limited in what he could do, but he did not do his best either and even acted terribly with Anya. And yes, I know he's a sleep-deprived man who is also a victim of Jimmy's mental abuse by this point in the story. While that can explain some of his carelessness, it doesn't excuse his actions. It would also be ignorant to not point the obvious misogyny and apparent male solidarity influencing his behavior.
That being said, I don't like it either when people demonize him and treat him as though he's the second coming of the Antichrist. Ironically, a lot of those same people also suggest immoral actions they think Curly should have taken, like killing Jimmy, for example. Outside of the fact that getting rid of the co-pilot is stupid, why do you treat murder as though it's something a person can easily do, or even a reasonable response? Does Anya even want that to happen? Yeah, you seem to forget about her a lot in this instance, which is ironic considering that's exactly what you criticize Curly for. In these situations, the number one priority is the victim's safety. Immediately adopting a punitive mindset toward the perpetrator can be extremely traumatizing for the victim, especially if they don't want things to happen that way. And it is made very clear that Anya is not someone who thinks like that. She would be horrified if someone were killed "for her" as a form of punishment.
He also didn't deserve to be burned alive for it either, because I genuinely can't count the number of messed up takes I've seen portraying Curly's fate as a justified punishment (again, without caring whether Anya herself would even agree with that) despite it being inflicted by fucking JIMMY. What kind of backward morality is that?
All I mean is that Curly is neither a poor uwu baby who did the best he could nor a monster, a villain, or someone just as bad as Jimmy. He's a complex character with deep flaws who endured exhausting circumstances (+ the deeply toxic relationship with Jimmy.)
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