Of Mice And Men Crooks Analysis

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In this essay I will be talking about how Crooks is presented in the novel and how Steinbeck does this. In the novel, Crooks is mainly presented as a victim. This is shown by the fact that he has to deal with racism and discrimination daily, for example "I could get you strung up on a tree so easily it ain't even funny." This quote shows that in the 1930s, people of colour were seen as a lower class compared to white people, and they were treated as such, the Ku Klux Klan were also very popular in the 1930s, and lynching and other punishments were seen as a big social event for a lot of people to attend.
Crooks is also portrayed as someone who has given up on having dreams, possibly even before having any, due to the unlikelihood of him ever …show more content…

This also ties into his race, and is shown in the quote "they all play cards in there but I can't cause I'm black." Steinbeck may have used this to hit home hard when it comes to getting people to realise jut how bad racism used to be. He realises that he cannot take part in anything the others do, because of his race and social status. He is also isolated in the fact that he does not have any room in the bunkhouse, and is instead demoted to the stables with the horses, having a "long box with straw" for his bed, and even the horses seem to disown him at times, with him being kicked in the back by one at one point.
While he is a very isolated and lonely person, he does seem to make an attempt to open up to people, even if he doesn't want to at first. This is first shown when Lennie enters his room, and while he tries to force Lennie to leave in the beginning, he soon gives in and lets Lennie join him. He also talks to Candy occasionally, but not often as Candy has to soon revert back to being racist towards him, just to fit in with the other men due to his own loneliness and desperation.
Lastly, he is presented as a weak person at times, but also can be viewed as extremely strong. While he does suffer extremely badly with discrimination and being isolated a lot, causing him to not open up to many people due to the fear of being beaten or worse, he can be seen as a very strong person, just because of the fact that he gets on with life and doesn't complain much about what goes on

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