Haven't read this for years now, but I remember a bit...
*Candy's dog is a metaphor for Candy himself: "old an' a cripple"
*Curley's high heeled boots - he is uncomfortable with his height - napoleon complex "like a lot of little guys, he hates big guys". His glove fulla vasaline is a symbol of oneupmanship he has sex and money, the other ranchers dont. This also shows he sees his wife as his property that he can boast about, not an individual.
*Curley's wife described as a "rat trap".
*Think about dialect too, and where this places people on the social ladder.
*Short sentences eg. "So I married Curley." - disguise - makes it seem simple, even right.
*And of course the simile you've already mentioned. Lennie is repeatedly reffered to as being like an animal. Like a bear to show that he is potentially lethal.
I don't know if any of that makes sense, it's been a while. Good luck anyway.
Oh, and relax Hippy. What the OP is asking for is other techniques used in the novel, rather than to explain the simile posted. It was just an example. But I wont be mean because you didn't understand... maybe English is your second language.