'Of Mice and Men'. The question is how does John Steinbeck tackle social issues in the novel through the use of Crooks. Includes direct quotations from the book.

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

     Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George especially how close they are. Crooks said, "Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?" (Steinbeck, 79) Crooks asks these questions because he does not have any friends. He was curious about the friendship of Lennie and George. He wants the people to feel the way that he did when he was lonely, having nobody with them. He is striving to achieve sympathy and understanding from others. Crooks would work for

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.

In addition, Crooks also does not know how to relate and function normally anymore because of how his loneliness has effected him. Crooks 's animosity was exemplified when Lennie comes into his room unannounced. He greets Lennie with: "Come on in and set a while... 'Long as you won 't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." Crooks has been lonely for so long that he expects people not to talk to him. When Lennie comes in and does not have any intention of hurting him, he realizes it and he let 's his guard down. It may seem that he doesn 't desire friendships or affection, but he no longer knows how to deal with his loneliness. It has made him into another person, one that obtains a relentless hostility toward anyone and everyone that gets close to

Also he tends to react in this way because he is insecure about himself. Crooks, and his character development, is the outcome of him being isolated, lonely, separated from others, and discriminated against. Loneliness drives the way that people think, and how they feel. As Crooks trys to explain to Lennie how lucky he is to have someone to lean on, he feels a sense of sorrow, because what he is telling Lennie, is his life. Crooks proclaims to Lennie, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody--to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (72-73). This quote specifically is talking about Crooks life, and what he goes through everyday. That day Lennie became Crooks somebody, which is something he has never experienced before. At first he was hesitant about Lennie, but because he never talks to anyone, Crooks let him in because he realized that Lennie could be that somebody, somebody to talk to and connect with. Crooks symbolically represents loneliness, and the negative effects of not building/having

In his 1937 novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck demonstrated the importance of power through his characters by using discrimination, agism, and sexism. Crooks, the male Black-American stable buck, demonstrated power over Lennie, who had a mental disability. Because Crooks showed power over a mentally challenged person, it showed that he was feeling anger and loneliness. Even though Crooks is a Black-American, he showed that he had power over Lennie because of his wit. The location of where Crooks lives demonstrates that there is an emphasis of power of racial segregation.

“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.” This quote, once said by E. B. White, excellently states what the novel, Of Mice and Men, is trying to clearly state. Of Mice and Men is a profound novel that has many things to teach society. This novel, written by John Steinbeck, reflects many flaws in the world today. It mirrors many of the characteristics that every human possesses. Prejudice is still a common way of thinking in today’s society, and to the people who feel victimized, it can be hard to overcome. Curley’s wife, Lennie, and Crooks all deal with prejudice against themselves different ways.

Crook’s longing to belong is demonstrated when Lennie is finally allowed into Crooks’ room. Crooks, who is also used to being bullied and teased by the other men, takes advantage of Lennie, and attempts to gain dominance over him by teasing and taunting him as an outlet for his own frustration at not being accepted.

Crooks is a very good representation of a victim of one of the worst qualities in humans – racism. He also represents how some people may react to such mistreatment. He shows how the cruelty to victims can change them and cause them to feel lonely and sometimes angry in Crooks’ case. ‘I can’t play because I’m black.’ This shows how racist people exclude him from activities and such like just because he is black in colour showing racial prejudice. Crooks also expresses the intolerance shown towards him by other people when he says ‘If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it.’ Another example of the discrimination is when Candy compliments his room and crooks replies in the tone of sarcasm, ‘Sure, and a manure pile under the window.’ His living conditions also show the lack of respect towards Crooks – his ‘ bunk was a long box filled with hay.’ Although Crooks has to live in this way, John Steinbeck writes how he takes it and gets on with it. ‘He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs. Crooks also shows his loneliness – Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so.’ This shows how he, unlike Lennie, has no one to talk to or share thoughts with, no one to express his feelings to or ask a question.

The character of Crooks is used to symbolize the social standing of the black community occurring during the time at which the novel is set. Crooks is a lonely African American on the farm that feels out of place. As George and Lennie explain their dream to Crooks he brushes them off and says that no one around here can implement their dreams. This realism gives the reader an impression that Crooks has absolutely no hope. However, Crooks may be pessimistic, but yet even he has a dream, which is the hope of one day experiencing the joys of his childhood again. Crooks' character is portrayed as very lonely in the novel, this is evident when Crooks explains, "A guy needs someone." (Mice 77). Crooks is telling the reader the need of human interaction. This realism that Steinbeck uses shows the reader the harsh realities of the black community during the time of the depression in the 1930's

First, Steinbeck utilizes Crooks to show that equality takes a long time to come by. While the guys are out on the town, Crooks and Lennie start talking about their dreams. In this conversation, Crooks says, “If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it,” he also says, “A guy needs

 In John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men, Crooks, a black stable buck, endures alienation due to racial discrimination. Racial discrimination also hinders him from any type of success. Despite the hardships, he overcomes these obstacles and faces this struggle head on. Forced into isolationism, due to segregation, alienation becomes Crooks ' companion. This describes Crooks all the way. He 's self-educated and meek yet frustrated, indignant, and angry by his helplessness as a black

For the most part, the characters in Of Mice and Men are white males, with two very important exceptions: Curleys wife, who is central to the stores, and the marginalized, “stable buck” who is referred to only as Crooks.236 His presence in the novel adds a considerable amount of thematic power. Chapter 4 is entirely framed around him. Yet this character presents something of a challenge for African-American readers, especially for the younger generation. Not just a literary question, but rather one of the most important cultural problems facing African American society. Black Americans have always been acutely sensitive to the fictional portraits of themselves created by white Americans in the early 20th century, even with those portraits as sympathetic as the one Steinbeck offers us. All the black Americans, and all people belonging to a racial or ethnic minority in a predominately white setting, must learn at a very early age to “read” all manner of phenomenon from the nuanced and polyvalent standpoint of a bi-fold conscience. From this vantage point, one can see “simultaneous night and day” Historically, black Americans, Asians, and Hispanics had to develop this epistemic skill set, requiring a lot of work. It became incumbent upon them to know the white curriculum and its assumptions as well-if not better-than white students beside them.237 The universal theme of loneliness and homelessness appears differently in this novel, revealing its most radical dimensions

Discrimination if often based on many qualities and abilities. Some of the most clearly shown examples in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men are gender, age and racial discrimination. The victims of these types of discrimination are Curley’s wife, who is unhappy and bitter about her life, Candy, the old, disabled swamper and Crooks, the black stable buck. Throughout the novel, these three characters face many hardships because they are harshly judged and often misunderstood.

In the novel, “Of Mice And Men,” written by John Steinbeck talks about the role of women/minorities and what they are supposed to do back then and why curley's wife doesn’t have a name in the book. Also crook is shown to be treated unfair during the story and the author showed them through this light because this was how life was back in the day.