The Relationship Between Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

While Lennie’s disability is invisible, Crooks’ obstacle is his skin. For his whole life, his family had been separated from the rest of their community. And since Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, he is still being isolated from the rest of the workers and

Just as Havisham and Curley’s wife’s isolation is because of their gender, Crooks in “Of Mice and Men” is presented as the epitome of the frustration and loneliness caused by isolation. However, Crooks’s isolation is not due to his gender, but his colour and race. In “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck presents Crooks as an isolated character due to his race. He names Crooks as Crooks because he has a crooked back and he is called “Nigger” implying that he is unimportant. Steinbeck portrays Crooks’s loneliness through “this is just a nigger talking a bust-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing” and “nobody’d listen to you”, these can be inferred as Crooks has a low status in the ranch, no one has ever listened to him. This can also be referred to the

As a contrast with George and Lennie, Crooks, a black man never wants anyone to go into his room. He sets an invisible wall between him and the rest of the world. He’s like a prisoner, in a world with one person, himself. He never talks to anyone; he never wants anyone to talk to him. He thinks that he’s a black, no one would want to talk to him. So he had his own room, and wanted everyone to keep away from his little room. Although he seems like he doesn 't want anyone to talk to him, but still at the deepest place of his heart, he wants to talk to someone, he wants a friend. He cried in front of Lennie, he told all these things in his heart that no one knows to Lennie, he knows Lennie won’t understand so he won’t go out and blab about it. He just wants to relieve his feelings. Crooks wants a friend as well, everyone needs a friend: ”a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is, long he’s with you. I tell ya.”(Steinbeck, p72). Everyone needs a friend, even the people who say they don 't.

One night when George goes out with the other men he leaves Lennie alone to play with his pup when he wanders into Crook’s room. Even though the majority of the time Crooks plays mind games with Lennie he ends up expressing his dream of equality. At this time period black people are still heavily discriminated against which effects how others treat him and how he accepts others. "'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me." (Steinbeck ___). Even though Crooks is just like all the other men on the farm he is still viewed in a negative way because of his skin colour. Afterwards, Crooks begins to describe his child hood discrimination does not exist and giving him a sense of

Chapter 4 of the ‘Of Mice and Men’ novella introduces a character named Crooks. Crooks isn’t shown as a main character of the story, but is given much light in this chapter. Crooks is a black man set on a 1930’s ranch, working as a stable buck. Steinbeck presents the Character of Crooks to us as he wouldn’t of been considered during the times of the ‘Great Depression’ and shows us the negative stereotypes of black people in an American 1930’s society.

History is full of examples of how power affects people's behaviors towards others. Well known examples in history include Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Kim Jong-Il, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein are more recent examples of the negative abuse of power. In the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, a common theme throughout the story is the misuse of power. Steinbeck uses the characters Curley’s wife and Crooks to teach the reader that people who possess less power are treated in a more demeaning fashion, but also treat others the same way in search of gaining power.

John Steinbeck reflects on the context of 1930’s America in his novel entitled ‘Of Mice and Men’. The public would perceive Afro-Americans solely by their physical features and society would segregate them as a result of their racial distinction. I will be exploring how Steinbeck presents Crooks and his development through literary devices, and hence, how he changes depending on the characters he is interacting with.

Chapter 4, on page 68 it states, “... you go on outta my room. I ain’t want in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room.” “ why ain’t you want?” Lennie asked “ Cause I’m black”.” In this quote Crook was harsh to Lennie because he didn’t understand what prejudice was and Lennie just going into the barn to see the pups and since everyone else is rude to Crooks and he just was rude to Lennie just because of how everyone treats Crooks

The character Crooks is not accepted due to the fact that he is an African American male in a white dominated society. The ranch owner has Crooks segregated from the rest of the workers, and in his own separate room. All of the people treat him unfairly by the things they say to him just because of the color of his skin. Referring to Crooks as the n-word quite often, they only see this situation from their point of view. “‘Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger’” (20). Because of these characteristics of Crooks he is lower than the typical man in society. Crooks also does not fit society’s ideal image of a person because he is also handicap. When Crooks was younger he was kicked in the back by a horse, and now he has a crooked back. “‘Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him’” (20). One night, when George and all the other guys went out to town, they left Lennie behind at the barn with the puppies. Later on, Lennie found his way into Crooks’ bedroom in the back of the barn. Of course it was different at first, and they did not seem

This is shown in the following text evidence, “Why ain't you wanted? Lennie asked. Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink” (68). Crooks isn't given a fair chance to show his capabilities, society automatically segregates him from the game because of his skin color. Not only was he not given the chance to interact in simple games with white people, he was ridiculed when he conversed with them. This is evident in the following text, “There wasn't another colored family for miles around. And now there ain't a colored man on this ranch an' there's jus' one family in Soledad. He laughed. If I say something, why it's just the nigger sayin' it” (70). At the end of this quote is obvious that the ranch hands and the boss mock Crooks because of his race, he is undoubtedly outcasted. Crooks is aware that he is a misfit at the ranch, the reader gets a sense of this when Crook says, “You go on and get outta my room. I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room” (68). This quote suggests that Crooks was segregated at the ranch, he is not even comfortable with people in his room due to his separation from white people. The deciding factor that makes Crooks an obvious social outcast in this period, is his race, causing discrimination against him, his segregation from the ranchers, and others mocking him, leaving him as a social outcast

As well as Lennie, Crooks receives much discrimination because of his skin color. Crooks is not allowed to be in the bunkhouse because he's black and everybody else is white. Crooks has to sleep in

For example, when Lennie approached Crooks and attempted to befriend him, “Crooks said sharply, You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me” (4.7-8). Crooks has been isolated so long that he isn’t even willing to make a new friend. Although he can’t control his skin color, he can attempt to control his social interactions, but because he has been forced into a constant state of loneliness for the majority of his life, he automatically turns everyone away. Crooks details his childhood by saying, "I was born right here in Southern California. My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ‘ol man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now." He hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice was softer. "There wasn’t another colored family for miles around. And now there ain’t a colored man on this ranch an’ there’s jus’ one family in Soledad" (4.37). Although he was a social kid, the realization of how his skin color would affect him in ways others don’t even have to worry about, sent him into isolation. The constant fear of racist actions and comments forced Crooks to be extremely lonely, and living in Soledad where only one other black family lived didn’t

     In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the character named Crooks was segregated from the other men because he is black. This caused him to be lonely. He was forced to sleep in a separate bunk than the others. Trapped in solitude all night long; he resorts to books as his only companion. Trying to portray himself as proud and aloof by his own will, but inside is happy to be around the other men. Crooks first tried to make Lennie leave his room but then he decided that Lennie would not understand and that he actually wanted someone to talk with. During his conversation with Lennie Crooks reveals his loneliness on the ranch. “I seen it over an’ over

The main victim of racism in Of Mice and Men, is Crooks. Crooks is a black man and he does not live in the bunkhouse like all the other white ranch workers. This kind of behaviour was very present in the 1930’s. In the Jim Crow law, it shows that white and coloured people should not live in the same area. John Steinbeck portrayed this law very well because in a few quotes, it should how Crooks lives in a separate area. ““I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room”” and ““Why you ain’t wanted?” Lennie asked. “Cause i’m black”” From these examples, it is clear that Crooks lives separately from the white workers. He is forced to live in the stable with the horses instead of with the others in the bunkhouse. The second example of racism is the fact that the other workers always called him names and made him feel worthless. This is how most black men were treated in the 1930’s. “Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger” In this quote, it is shown how the other workers call him derogatory names used to describe coloured people. “If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it” This quote demonstrates how Crooks is aware that his opinions do not matter to the others because he has a different skin colour. Also, he is referred to as “Crooks” because his back is crooked from being kicked by a horse. The third example of racism is about how Crooks had a negative mindset about his goals and dreams. This

In the novel "Of Mice and Men" John Steinbeck, the author, uses the character of Crooks to represent racism and symbolize the marginalization of the black community occurring at the time in which the novel is set. Crooks is significant as he provides an insight into the reality of the American Dream and the feelings of all the ranchers: their loneliness and need for company and human interaction. Crooks got his name from his "crooked back," this suggests he represents something different and he is not your average ranch hand. The reader has to decide whether Crooks deserves sympathy, or if he is just a bitter, cruel and gruff stable-buck.