Chapter 2 1. The chapter begins by explaining in detail what the bunkhouse is; it’s a long rectangular building with whitewashed walls and small square windows. 2. Against the walls were eight bunks and over each bunk there was a box nailed on it so that each one can have its belongings in it, like soap, razors, powder, etc. 3. Then came an old man and opened the door and showed George and Lennie the place, he’s a man without an arm and with his stick like arm pointed the two bunks.…
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…
The novel “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck written in 1937, is set in the Salinas Valley of California during the Great Depression. Crooks was one of the main characters who is mainly presented as an outcast within the ranch. The way Crooks is presented, illustrates all the idea of discrimination and racism during the 1930’s. In this period many struggled to survive and it was hard to earn a living and In the case of Crooks, Steinbeck uses him as a voice to portray the black community, so they can learn and understand the different ways of how black men lived and struggled, to survive but also how they were mentally and physically abused.…
Crooks (named for his crooked back) is the stable hand who works on the ranch. He was born free on land owned by his father. When Crooks was young, he played with white kids and lived in freedom from racists. He lives now by himself in a barn on the ranch because he is the only black man on the ranch. Crooks is bookish and likes to keep his room neat, but he has been beaten down by loneliness and prejudicial treatment and now he is defensive to everything. Crooks is afraid to take kindness from anyone because he is shunned for being black and crippled.…
When the Europeans first came to North America, they only inhabited the east coast. Naturally, wanting more land, they needed to explore the rest of the country. Two explorers named Lewis and Clark set out to do just that. However, what would Lewis have done without Clark, and how would Clark fair without Lewis? In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, characters provide each other the same purpose that Lewis and Clark did. In this way, the novel demonstrates that friendship gives life meaning.…
The book 'Of Mice and Men' mainly illustrates the ranch life of Lennie and George and the conflicts between Lennie and other workers. The author uses details of their experience to demonstrate the helplessness and the powerlessness of the victims of the Great Depression and the falsity of American dream.…
"my ol' man didn't like that. I never knew till long later why de didn't like that"…
Needs. Being a self-sufficient man who is probably seasoned in wilderness hunting or other skills needed to survive in the untamed world back then in 20th century America. Although the outdoors wasn’t exactly safe, it wasn’t exactly dangerous either. You could camp out and live there without much worry, and there were plenty of berries, game, mushrooms, and other sources of food as well. However, George’s safety needs are not even existent; evident by the fact of him possessing three dollars. He does hold a good relationship with Lennie, so there isn’t much trouble there. George is just a run-of-the-mill worker, and the people he meets while at his new source of employment see him as such. He has nothing to be psyched about. With Lennie, as he evidently says constantly in the story, he could do a lot better off without him. Lennie on the hand, lacks tangibility in all categories of this triangle of sorts. He needs George, is often picked on and acknowledges it. Although a very good worker (and proven), he is incapable of making his own decisions truly and does not function well in society. Lennie has no idea what he’d want to be. In the sense of other characters, some vary often. For example, Slim is a very skilled skinner and he is a huge part of the ranch they are working at; nearly irreplaceable. Candy, on the other hand, is very dispensable. He is past his prime wildly, basically handicapped, and is a train wreck after his old dog is put down by Carlson. The other people in the camp are regulars; they are the bulk of the ranch so they wouldn’t necessarily be dismissed quickly, and can take little parts in these sections of the triangle.…
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, the major theme is to live out the American Dream. According to James Truslow Adams, who was and American writer and historian in the early 1900s, the definition of the American Dream is that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement (Adams). “But the American Dream is a tough concept to understand because the dream could be different for different people, such as Lennie and George who have two different dreams. Also the American Dream during the 1930s was tremendously difficult to accomplish. For instance someone living in the 1930s, like Lennie and George, had to work very hard for their American Dream to come true. But although the American Dream is different for everyone, Lennie and George struggled to try to accomplish their American Dream.…
In this section of the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck presents the black Stable Buck, Crooks, as petulant, lonely, yet he is not portrayed by Steinbeck in a stereotypical manor. In the setting description of Crooks’ isolated bunk, it is described that he owns a “tattered dictionary” and a book on Californian Law. This demonstrates to the audience how he is well educated. A working-class black person during the Depression era of 1930s America would have been unlikely to grow up with many educational opportunities, but this interesting detail suggests Crooks’ desire to self-educate and self-improve. It also suggests that he cares about his legal rights as a citizen, which may have been threatened or undermined at various times within his life. The pessimistic adjective “dirty” is ambiguous and could have been intended by Steinbeck for two reasons. Firstly, it could show physical dirt, showing the long length of time that he has owned it for. However, it also suggests that he has spent a lot of time reading the books due to the underlined theme of loneliness. These books, as well as an educational motivation could also act as a distraction from the isolation and impertinent attitudes directed at him by the white ranch hands. This idea of loneliness would make the reader sympathize with Crooks and would give them a better understanding of blacks working on ranches in America during the Great Depression. However it would also aid with the comprehension of eliminating black stereotypes as Crooks character, devised by Steinbeck, contradicts this unjust concept they were stereotyped around.…
In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the protagonists, George and Lennie have an ambitious dream that never comes true. Of Mice and Men was written through inspiration from a poem about dreams and how they often go awry. Steinbeck used the elements of that poem to make a detailed novella about the danger of setting one’s mind to one dream without any backup plan. Throughout the novella, Steinbeck attempts to tell readers that the American Dream is almost impossible to achieve and it is not worth setting one’s mind solely to that dream as people will discourage one and it will likely fall apart.…
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, George is completely justified in killing Lennie, and he is a man for others due to the choices he makes. For example, Curley instigates a fight between himself and Lennie, demanding respect, and power when he says, “Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella” (62). This quotation helps shed some light onto the extent of punishment and violence that Curley has, the same violence he ensures onto Lennie, by forming a lynch mob and hunting him like a dear. We can further derive that George knows what violent and heinous acts that the mob is willing to partake, meaning that George’s actions can be said to be for Lennie’s own good. Moreover, George discovers Lennie alone by the river bank and is left with…
The wind was whistling as the sun had disappeared behind the noble mountains leaving a dark atmosphere of death in the cold, lonely, air. The distressing burial of the by-gone Lennie left a dull fog of depression that seeped through the ranch leaving dismal and unanswered questions. The configuration of the looming trees ganged upon George leaving him feeling guilt ridden.…
Steinbeck illustrates racism on the ranch through the workers ignoring Crooks and sometimes even forgetting Crooks works on the ranch. For instance, the fact that the boss gives Crooks his own to live in, suggests that the boss wants to separate Crooks from the other workers who are all white. Considering that Crooks lives with the animals he takes care of, implies that the boss and the other workers view him as an animal. Additionally, Crook's bed, "was a long box filled with straw" (Steinbeck 66). Also, the other workers ignore Crooks by not allowing him to play cards or go out with them. According to Crooks, the reason they do not allow him to play cards with them is, "… because I'm[he is] black" (Steinbeck 68). Because the other workers ignore him and do not allow him to participate in activities with them, he claims, "… all of you[white people] stink to me" (Steinbeck 68). Likewise, many of workers rarely talk to Crooks, because of his color. In fact when Candy visits Crooks' room, Crooks explains that, "Guys don’t come into a colored man's room very much" (Steinbeck 75). As a result of being deprived from social interactions with the other workers, Crooks becomes very lonely and hostile towards white people. Moreover the boss and the other workers on the ranch have ignored the needs of Crooks. However, despite most of the workers on the ranch being racist towards Crooks, Lennie does not see a difference between Crooks and himself. While Lennie does not have any prejudices towards Crooks, it can be likely contributed to his child-like personality. Despite Lennie's lack of awareness of the situation, the interaction between the two gives hope that one day racism will come to an…
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck uses descriptive language and diction to explain Crook’s room. After reading the two paragraphs explaining Crooks’s room, a reader can infer that Crooks is caring, lonely and informed about his rights. Crooks’s room is described as “a little shed” with many personal possessions.” Furthermore, unlike the other men on the ranch he has books which consist of “a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905” and medicine for the horses.…