The 1930s was a time period in which racial discrimination played a vital role in the lives of minorities.
Around this time period many men were rovers, or men who wandered in search of work. These men were often very lonely. 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. On an attempt for his alienation to be broken, Lennie walks into Crooks’ room “smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends” (75).
At the sight of this Crooks becomes defensive and declares, “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room...They say I stink”(75). It is obvious that Crooks has been treated badly. he wants company but he does not really know how to except it or express himself towards it. Suddenly, “Crooks scowled but Lennie’s disarming smile defeated him”(76). This action shows the importance of human contact and though he scowls, Lennie looks over him. 1this entire incident shows how Crooks wants his loneliness to end. As Lennie entered Crooks room he
(Crooks) slowly began to let his guard down because he needs companionship and friendship with others to share his ideas. Until this point ant time none of the other men had ever been in Crooks’ room just as he had never been in the bunkhouse. More ironic incidents are bound to happen.
After Candy enters Crooks’ room, Curley’s wife enters the room also and tries to hold a conversation with the three men. After the men do not respond to her she states, “Funny thing... If I catch one man, and he’s alone, I get along with him fine. But just two of the guys get together and you won’t talk”(84). Curley’s wife is also very lonely (just as the men are). The men do not want any trouble so Crooks tells her, “Maybe you better go along to your house now, we don’t want no trouble”(84)...”You ain’t got no rights in a colored man’s room”(88). She does not have the right to be in his room. Neither of the men want to be in any type of trouble with the boss or Curley, His son, because she decided to go into Crooks’ room. But all of a sudden she becomes furious and exclaims, “Listen,
Nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?
when Duddy confronts Yvette and asks her, “ Why did you go to my grandfather? Of
Candy anticipated that she had come to ask for Curley. He sharply answered that Curley wasn’t there and told her to be loyal to her husband. She responded to him by saying “Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twict, and then bring in the ol’ right cross?” (Steinbeck 78). She seems to has been forcefully married to Curley since she is always roaming around searching for company. This gives us an impression that the couple does not get along well, and neither of them attempts to talk about the other’s
...ther workers. Crooks is so badly isolated from the rest of the men that he is forced to live in his own area without contact from any of the other men. At one point, Lennie goes to Crooks’ room in an innocent attempt to make a new friend, but Crooks sharply shuts him down. Crooks said, “You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me” (Steinbeck 68). This quote is very significant in that is gives the reader a great sense of how strongly Crooks feels that his room is the only room in which he has any rights over the others. Steinbeck uses Crooks as a significant way in which society isolates people that are different. One last example that Steinbeck uses as a brilliant example of isolation is his insertion of Curley’s wife into the novel.
He is separated from everyone on the ranch because he is black. Everyone thinks he is gross and wants nothing to do with him. The narrator said “He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs.”(67). No one was ever near him and he grew to enjoy that. Later when Lennie comes in his room they argue a little bit but the Crooks says, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he's gonna come back, s'pose you didn't have nobody” (72). He is trying to explain to Lennie that he doesn't have anyone like George. No one has ever been there for him. After him and Lennie get into an argument about if George is going to come back for him, Crooks says, “I didn't mean to scare you. he’ll come back. I was talkin’ about myself” (73). Crooks didn't mean to scare Lennie, he just knows from experience that most people don't come back. they just leave and move on with their life as a ranch person.
Crooks is the last and final character shown in the novel Of Mice and Men and, shows that dreams don’t always come true. This novel took place back when race was a huge thing back in the day. He was treated much different than the other workers, in the novel. The different race affected his dream in the story he was treated like a nobody, because of his race. “I ain't wanted in my bank house, and you ain’t wanted in my room. The quote shows that crooks is treated different, by no one wants to be around
Because of the discrimination towards crooks, crooks doesn’t trust most of the men, and shuts them out of his life and feelings. During
He is a very lonely man who only sometimes gets to chat with the migrant workers. Crooks says, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” (p72) He says this because he doesn’t have anybody he can really talk to. He dreams of childhood with his family and hanging out and watching the chickens with his brothers. He commented, “Cuz I’m black.” (p68) Because he is black, he got discriminated a lot during the Great Depression. Crooks is a very lonely man who can’t make real friends because they are always coming and going.
Crooks also feels a great deal of loneliness, as he is an outcast on the ranch. He lives in his own room where hardly anybody ever bothers him. He is never invited to play cards or do anything fun with the other guys. One day a curious Lenny asked, “Why ain’t you wanted?” Crooks replies “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They think I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me” (pg. ). Crooks’ attitude towards this is shown when he saw Lennie playing with his puppy outside of Crooks’ quarters. Crooks states that “if me, as a black man, is not allowed in the white quarters, then white men are not allowed in mine” (pg. ). However this is merely a front as the more open side of Crooks is shown later on in the book.
Considering the fact that Crooks is a black man. Crooks kind of pushes them out, but really wants them to come in, because he likes company. Crooks has friendship with Lennie, and Candy, and is developed more when they talk to him, and tell him about their dream. But the real trouble comes when Curley’s wife walks in. Like she’s good at, she causes trouble, and Crooks doesn’t like it. He wants her to get out, and her only. “Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. ‘I had enough,’ He said coldly. You got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing in here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t, I’m gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more.’” (Steinbeck 80). The friendship between Crooks, Lennie, and Candy gave Crooks the courage to stand up for himself. And that’s hard being a black man in the 1930s. That’s how friendship can give people courage to stand up for
Slim, George, Carlson, and Curley went into town for the day, they went without Candy and Lennie. When Lennie starts to wonder he finds himself wandering around the Ranch. Lennie comes to the barn, walks towards the doorway, the buck was laying on his bed in his room. Lennie attempts to go in but Crooks doesn’t want him to. Crooks is an older man who has a curve in his back from an accident that happened when he got kicked by a horse, that’s how he got the name. Crooks doesn’t have much but one thing he had was his own room. Crooks is not allowed to be where white people are or even talk with them that is why he is so isolated. After Crooks realizes that Lennie
Curley?s wife spent her whole life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and ignored by everyone on the ranch, an example of this is when George tells Lennie that she was troubled and to stay away from her. Curley?s wife was ignored and used from early on, when she was given false intentions on being a movie star.
“’I get lonely’ she said ‘You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley, else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to nobody?’” (Page 87) This quote is said by Curley’s wife when all the men went to town, including her husband. It shows that she spends all her time alone, in her house as the men work in the fields. She is also not allowed to talk to anyone but her husband who spends all of this time in the fields, so she feels like she is living alone all her life. This forces her to talk to anybody she finds. This shows her case of loneliness, and Crooks almost has the same situation.
Crooks talks with Lennie in the book, "Crooks laughed again. ‘A guy can talk to you an’ be sure you won’t
This isolation prevented Crooks from reaching his full potential, as he could not cooperatively work with the other.... ... middle of paper ... ... In this novel, discrimination that Lennie had to face prevented him from showing his abilities.
Discrimination is a problem that plagues those whose qualities are vulnerable. There are many examples of discrimination in the novel, Of Mice and Men. The characters face discrimination in many different ways including racial, age, gender, and disability. Crooks, the black stable buck, is the victim of racial discrimination. Candy, the old swamper, is a victim of the age discrimination. The victim of gender discrimination is Curley's wife because she is a woman. Life of the victims is hard because of the things they have to go through. Lastly, Lennie is mentally handicap so he discriminated against because of that.