Crooks is a very lonely and grumpy old man. He has a croked back were a horse kiked him. He is the stable buck on the ranch but he usally keeps to imself and stays in the barn. Being black is very hard for Crooks to deal with now that he is an adult. When he was a child he played with other white children but soon after he was nothing other than a black man.
With all the time Crooks has on his hands he reads many books, and over the years he has beocme rather smart with no one to teach him. In Crooks personal bunk in the harness room he has many books and personal possessions hanging on walls or resting on small shelves. Crooks is in control in this room but he hates to be alone. His lolyness and depresion truly show thier colors when Lenie comes to pay him a visit. Crooks explains that "guys don't come in a colored mans room very much"(##). This shows that he has been casted out and he is aware of it. Meetin a man like Lenie is rare for Crooks because although he is white he is still inferier to Crooks due to his lack of intelagence. Crooks takes advantage of this opurtunity to give a little of the "love" back that white man has showed him all his life. He starts in on lenie talling him how George is not going to come back just to see how he reacts. When he realized that was planning to react in a physical way he reasured him that lenie would indeed come back. Crooks does not seem to have a hope in the world untill Candy starts describing hi's, George's, and Lenies dream. For a short period of time in the book Crooks actually shoes a sign of hope.
When Candy finally convinced Crooks that there was a possibility that they could own their own ranch there seemed to be a new light in his eye. Crooks then stamered "...If you...guys would want a hand to work for you for nothing, just his keep, why I'd come and lend a hand"(##). But when everythings seem to be going well Curly's wife knocked him off "cloud nine" by threatening to have him lynched for talking back to her.
After this Crooks desided he did not want to get his hopes up so he withdrew his offer.
Crooks life is simular to Lennie's life. Lennie is looked upon as being dumb and insenificent. Crooks is thought of as the same way, but this is because he is black. They are both thought as to be in the same class of man and the are treated the same way.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
C. Crooks admits to being extremely lonely, and as a black man with a physical handicap, Crooks is forced to live on the fringe of ranch life, excluded. His resentment seems to quietly burst out through his bitter, caustic wit, like on page 72, touching Lennies vulnerable side. Therefore, Crooks is a lonely person who keeps to himself and does what he does because he has nothing else to do and no one to care for. Crooks is a round, static character.…
- 1057 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Crooks is isolated because of color and his disability. He is physically divided from his fellow co workers and lives in a separate bunkhouse. His loneliness forces him to acquiesce when Lennie tries to make a decent conversation with him. But when Lennie fills Crooks in about the dream farm place, all he does is laughs. It could be because he saw too many men say that but they end up working for someone or just simply ended up in ditch. Crooks is understandably cynical and shows apprehension about how others treat him in return. He cannot see beyond the preconception he has always encountered in the past. Ways that Crooks copes with his seclusion is by reading books. The other guys can't read but he can which gives him a huge advantage of…
- 302 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Crooks, an African American blacksmith that works on the ranch, is one of the people who is stereotyped and you can see the effect that it has on his life. For example people exclude him from things, Lennie asks why Crooks…
- 442 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Each character in Of Mice and Men have some type of power, some are not as noticeable as Crooks’s power to manipulate others. Crooks is not a character the book tells a lot about but it does show the reader what kind of person he is. In the book Crooks tries to convince Lennie that George is not going to come back. Crooks said to Lennie in the barn “s'pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more” (71). Crooks repeated several statements about George not returning. Crooks attempts to scare Lennie by asking him what would he do if George never came back. Crooks is trying to manipulate Lennie to think think George has left him or got hurt maybe even killed. He does this because since he is the only…
- 1133 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In 'Of Mice and Men', John Steinbeck includes a character, Crooks, as a stereotype of black people in the Great Depression; proud, bitter, and very sarcastic. Crooks is also extremely pessimistic and cold-hearted, due to the way people had been treating him all his life. Steinbeck portrays many of his characters lonely and isolated. Just as Candy's age and handicap isolate him, and Curley's wife's being a female makes her life solitary, Crooks's race is the main reason for his isolation. Because of his race, he is discriminated and must live in a separate room (a shed), away from everyone else. Steinbeck revolves all of Chapter 4 around Crooks so that he could convey Crooks loneliness and isolation.…
- 440 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The character Crooks is a black person who work in a ranch in California. In 1930 in America there were segregation between white and black people, and this relates onto how Crooks is segregated from and by other workers in the ranch ‘they don’t let me play card, cause I’m black’ even they don’t let them play a game so this also shows how black people was treated.…
- 851 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The importance of Crook’s character is that he’s the only African-American in the novel “ Of mice and men”. He was treated different from everyone else because of his race. Crook’s lived in his own bunkhouse by himself, And he was also disabled. Crook;s wasn’t even allowed to play cards with rest of the men because of his race. He was completely isolated from the rest of the people. Crook’s didn’t have any friends or anyone to talk too. He was completely by himself, surrounded by white faces.…
- 120 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
In section 4 when he is first presented with no relationships. Crooks relationships with others when first presented are negative, the quote , “Crooks the negro stable buck had his bunk in the harness room a little shed that leaned of the wall of the barn”, shows that Crooks is segregated form the rest of the barn also by using the word ‘negro’ shows the racism at the time in America. The word ‘little shed’ implies that Crooks is a tool that is kept in a shed or he is an animal who is kept in a small shed away from the workers leaned of the barn. In section 4 Crooks says ‘Mr Slim’ this shows us that he has a subservient position. This quote shows us they only view him as a black man and not as an individual. This also supports that he was classed as a second class citizen therefore shows that he has to speak to him with respect but crooks does not have to be shown any respect by the others.…
- 610 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Crooks is the most isolated character in this novella. He is isolated because of the color of his skin. He lives all by himself in the barn, which is away from the bunkhouse. Crooks pretends to be fine with…
- 267 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The tragic complex character of Crooks is introduced in the novella as a paradox, he is extremely intelligent yet he has such a low status, generally someone with intelligence is higher up in society but because he is coloured, he is below the uneducated people and the women. The women were considered to have a low status but on the ranch as Curley’s wife is considered to be quite powerful. He is also a paradox because he is lonely but doesn’t want company…
- 507 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Crooks was a lively, sharp-witted, black stable-hand, who takes his name from his crooked back. Like most of the characters in the story, he admits that he is extremely lonely, this is shown when he said “A guy needs someone –to be near him”. He said this because in the 1930’s black people were extremely low in the social hierarchy and have virtually had no rights which meant that no one wanted to be with him which makes him lonely and isolated.…
- 744 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Crook, the only black character in ‘Of Mice and Men’, is immediately put in a disadvantaged position. Steinbeck immediately makes it very clear that Crooks is black in quotations such as ‘Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger.’ This being the first time we hear about Crooks in the novel and the reference to him as ‘a nigger’ instead of ‘Crooks’ instantly puts him at a disadvantage as the only character, so far, without a name.…
- 769 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Crooks is a slightly handicapped lonely black man working on the ranch as a stable hand, who develops isolationism because of his color. Being black, he is forbidden to stay with the other guys in the bunk house, and is instead forced to live all alone in the barn, with only books for company. He does not have any friends at all because he is considered an outcast in their society because of his race, and the social standards of this time. He is not allowed to associate with any of the white men in the ranch. Crooks expresses his isolation when talking to Lennie, he says, " '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 68). Also after being isolated for so long he realizes that his dreams most likely won’t come true; so he gives up on the idea of going to Lennie and George’s future farm to live in a better environment. Through this you can see Crooks’ feelings towards their racist attitude which is one of the main reasons he is so isolated from the rest.…
- 604 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The character of Crooks is a victim of intolerance and discrimination throughout the novel. Society takes advantage of Crooks and neglects him because of the stereotypes of his skin colour. Crooks is not allowed to enter the bunk house where the white men sleep, or dine with them. He is left with the animals, isolated from everyone and exploited by most of the men on the ranch. George and Lennie arrive late to the ranch where Slim tells them about the boss, “ 'Where the hells them new men? An ' he give the stable buck hell too. '” (Steinbeck 19). Although Crooks has not done anything wrong he is still seen as an animal in the eyes of society. Crooks is mostly referred to with offensive terms. Crooks tells Lennie he is not allowed to have a say in anything. Crooks is a lonely man but he desperately wants to be hopeful. When Candy encourages him to accompany them on their dream, Crooks agrees. However a bit later, Curley 's Wife threatens Crooks when he asks her to leave his room, “ 'I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain 't even funny ' “ (Steinbeck 81). Immediately all of Crooks ' desire diminishes as he remembers where his place is in society. Crooks remembers that he does not have any power to retaliate so he has to deal with it. Due to the lack of tolerance and respect from the ranchers, Crooks continues to live isolated and hopeless.…
- 848 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Chapter 4 provides solid evidence that crooks is a lonely man, who is isolated from the rest of the ranch, most probably as a result of his skin color. “I aint wanted in the bunk house…They play cards in there, but I can’t, because I’m Black”, gives the reader the impression that because of Crook’s skin color, he is isolated from the farm, and especially the communal, white only, bunk house, where the ranch workers eat, sleep, and entertain themselves and each other.…
- 1406 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays