The extract I have chosen is from the beginning of chapter four and stretches from page 71 to page 73. This extract gives a detailed description of Crooks, his room and his possessions. The extract I have chosen is from the beginning of chapter four and stretches from page 71 to page 73. This extract gives a detailed description of Crooks, his room and his possessions. The entrance of Lennie into Crooks´ room and the development of their relationship throughout the scene is shown. At the beginning of the extract Lennie is not welcomed into Crooks´ room, but at the end they begin to befriend each other. I chose this extract because it provides us with excellent examples of descriptions, dialogue, themes, relationships and …show more content…
This is illustrated by the extensive detailing of Crooks´ 'crooked spine, his 'deep black wrinkles and 'pain-tightened lips. The reader sympathises with Crooks because he is physically inept and suffers silently. Due to years of loneliness, Crooks is a private man and so was very annoyed when Lennie interrupted him whilst applying liniment to his back; this was a private act of a private man. "If you guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I´d come an´ lend a hand. I ain´t so crippled I can´t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to," is an example of Crooks´ loneliness as he proposes to work for George and Lennie if they buy a ranch of their own. He tries to reassure Lennie that he can still work hard despite his disability. He wants to join George and Lennie´s dream to counteract his loneliness. This is emphasised by the fact that he is willing to work for just a bed and some food and go without wages. "They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me," is a possible reference to Carlson´s remark about Candy´s dog. This gives the impression that the general idea within the ranch is that Crooks is inferior to the others. This suggests that Steinbeck thinks that some black people feel the same way about white people as some white people feel about black people. Steinbeck uses 'Of Mice and Men´ to portray issues which he feels strongly about
As he has a love for all soft objects, he would like to "tend the rabbits" on their own ranch. Nevertheless, George has to think this through as he is what some people would say, the brains of the operation. He has to think about how they are going to support themselves on the ranch. The reason for this is, George is the "clever" partner of the two. Conversely, Lennie is physically a stronger and bigger person in comparison to George.
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
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.
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.
Owning a farm where you can “live offa the fatta the lan’” is George and Lennie’s dream (57). Where they can have crops,“a little house. . . a room to ourself[themselves]”,and of course animals especially rabbits (58). The farm for George will be a place he can be independent while still taking care of Lennie, he can be his own boss in a place of security and comfort. The farm for Lennie would be a sanctuary from a world that does not understand him. There would be a responsibility for him to tend the rabbits, the attribute of the farm that excites him most,while still being with George.
Every human is original and different in their own way, and some are outcasted from society. John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men communicates to the reader in many ways how humans are all unique; some accepted, and some not. From the opening to the end Of Mice and Men, Lennie is immediately depicted as a static social outcast due to his mental disability. Crooks is another character that represents a static social outcast because of his race. Lastly, an old, sympathetic man, named Candy, was also created as a static social outcast. Candy is portrayed as a social outcast because he is old, and almost useless compared to his fellow workers. Steinbeck might have developed these characters to be static verses dynamic to prove that its very difficult
But despite Crooks being isolated from the other workers, he still values friendship, perhaps more so than most of the other workers. When Crooks is talking to Lennie in the stables, he confesses, “'A guy needs somebody – to be near him. […] 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'” (72). Crooks values companionship, but is all alone as an adult. He is jealous of Lennie, who has always had George to look after him. Lennie doesn't understand what it's like for Crooks not to have anyone who is always there for him. He tries to make Lennie understand by saying “S'pose George don't come back no more” (71). Lennie can't imagine what it would be like without George, and can't understand Crooks' loneliness.In addition, when Candy asks Crooks if he wants to come into the barn, Crooks replies, “'Come on in. If ever'body's comin' in, you might just as well.' It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with
George and Lennie who both have the dream of owning a ranch with their wantings
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck. This novella is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. During this time period racial discrimination was very common. The character, Crooks, in Of Mice and Men was discriminated and the way he was nicknamed are examples of Crooks being an archetypal character. In the novella Of Mice and Men the author portrays Crooks as an archetype character.
In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses many characters to show his assertion that man is basically evil. When Curley’s wife confronts Lennie, Crooks, and Candy in Crook’s place, she notes that the others “left all the weak ones here” (77). The “weak” ones that Curley’s wife refer to all attack each other in a vicious circular firing squad. Crooks taunts Lennie about the possibility of George not returning, and takes “pleasure in his torture” as he “[presses] forward for some kind of private victory” (71). Curley’s wife calls Candy and Lennie “a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep” (78) and threatens to get Crooks “strung up on a tree” (81). Meanwhile, all the other characters are the ones that make those Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife feel “weak” because they are disabled mentally, disabled physically, black, and female, respectively. In this way, Steinbeck shows that all men are basically evil as they do not lend a hand to each other and instead simply attack and prey upon each other.
“’They left all the weak ones here,’ she said finally“(pg 38) The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is set in Allendale California. This book is about men that work on a ranch and struggle with their impairments everyday. For example Crooks is black, Candy is missing a limb, and Lennie is dumber than a door knob. Therefore these characters have disabilities they deal with everyday but their not the only ones.
People constantly have others influencing us and telling us what to do. It is extremely difficult to trust yourself and go with your initial decision and what you want. Lennie and George know what they want, the farm that will bring them both happiness, and they do not let anybody get in the way of their goal and they have faith and trust in themselves and their goal. They could listen to all of their haters and give up, but they keep their eye on their prize due to the trust they have. Some would argue that George does not trust Lennie, but in reality he does.
Crook which is one characters that was isolated and lonely because of his race, disability and his deep mistrust of others. He is physically separated from the other men and has his own room in the barn. And since he is black he does not have the freedom or flexibility like the other worker have. His loneliness forces him to talk to Lennie. But when Lennie tried, helplessly in an attempt to make friends with Crook said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." Since Crook has always been treated differently than the other workers he treated everybody how he was treated. However when Crook was little his dad never wanted him to play with the kids since they was white use a quote “There wasn’t another colored family for
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.
Falling Action: George says he wants Lennie to stay with him. He comments that ranch workers are always lonely, but he and Lennie are different because they have one another.