Examples Of Powerlessness In Of Mice And Men

In Of Mice and Men, a person’s sense of power or powerlessness can be seen to affect a character's behavior towards others with less or more power through the character of Crooks. An example of this is evident through the interaction between Crooks and Lennie in chapter 4. Due to Crooks’s lights being on, Lennie wandered to where Crooks stayed on the ranch. Crooks wasn’t very welcoming at first, but eventually let Lennie into his room. During their conversation in Crooks’s room, Crooks observes that Lennie had a limited understanding and intellect from that point, realizing that there is a gap in intellectual ability between them. With this sense of superiority, Crooks begins planting ideas into Lennie's head about supposing George left him
‘Nobody can't tell what a guy'll do,’ he observed calmly”’(72). Crooks is described as enjoying seeing Lennie, tormented by the idea of George leaving him. This shows how Crooks derives a sense of power from seeing the control he has over Lennie, leading him to be cruel towards Lennie despite Lennie never showing any sort of hostility towards Crooks. Another example of Crooks’s sense of power, or powerlessness, affecting how he behaves toward others can be seen later in the same chapter when he interacts with Curley’s wife. After Curley’s wife gets told off by Candy while in Crooks’s room, she begins looking face-to-face for some sort of help but is denied it, when she begins talking to Lennie Crooks intervenes and tells her off again, this time about not having the right to be in a black man's room. She didn’t take it well from him. Steinbeck writes, “‘You know what I could do?’ Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed? himself against the wall. ‘Yes, ma'am.’ ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger.’”(81). After she got told off by Crooks, Curley’s wife got defensive about a man of color talking down on her, so she made sure he knew his place and what she could do to him if he stood in her