Preview

Explain How Steinbeck Presents the Character of Crooks in of Mice and Me What Is the Significance of His Role

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
704 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Explain How Steinbeck Presents the Character of Crooks in of Mice and Me What Is the Significance of His Role
Controlled assessment
Controlled assessment
Explain how Steinbeck presents the character of crooks in of mice and men. What is the significance of his role?
Explain how Steinbeck presents the character of crooks in of mice and men. What is the significance of his role?

In the novel "Of Mice and Men" John Steinbeck, the author, uses the character of Crooks to represent racism and show the marginalization of the black community occurring at the time in which the novel is set (1930’s). Crook provides the reality of the Jim Crow law and the feelings of all the ranchers: their loneliness and need for company.
We first hear of the Name Crooks when Candy calls him a "nigger," this is meant as a white insult, in 2013 this would of be seen as racism and unacceptable. Candy also mentions Christmas when crooks had a fight with smitty. ‘So he took after the nigger, done pretty good too. The guys wouldn’t let him use his feet, so the nigger got him’ this implies that the term "nigger" is acceptable at the time period is in the 1930's during the Depression era and is what they would. The term "nigger" is used by most of the ranchers, Steinbeck proves that the term is used originally and black people were seen as unworthy. Crooks got his name from his "crooked back,” this was from when he had a horse kicking him in the back.
John Steinbeck describes Crooks room as a “little shed that leaned of the wall of the barn” Steinbeck uses the phrase ‘’leaned’’ this is explaining the conditions or his room and how he had to live even the fact that he has to live with horses when the other men have a bunk house and get to play cards and sleep in appropriate beds show that crooks was treated differently.
Steinbeck also uses the description of ‘Crooks bunk was a long box filled with straw, Steinbeck uses this to show that he had a completely different way of living unlike the white men in the bunkhouse as they slept in proper beds on the other hand he also tells us about crooks

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck’s novel, Of mice and Men, shows the lives of a Negro skinner who is excluded from all things and the boss’s son’s wife. They appear different because they come from different backgrounds of life, but in actuality they are alike in many fashions. Crooks and Curley’s wife lived simple lives on the ranch and their parents placed restrictions on them when they were younger.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses symbolism to present the character of Crooks. His character shows us how black people were treated in the 1930's. It tells us that they were treated as outsiders and weren't worthy to share anything with white people, we know this due to Crook's having "his bunk in the harness room", I think that it is because his boss doesn't think it's right for Crook's to share a bunkhouse with the other men on the ranch, so Crook's is forced to sleep in the barn. This suggests that he isn’t treated like a human but as an animal.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • 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
  • 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
  • Good Essays

    In the novel "Of Mice and Men" John Steinbeck, the author, uses the character of Crooks to represent racism and symbolize the marginalization of the black community occurring at the time in which the novel is set. Crooks is significant as he provides an insight into the reality of the American Dream and the feelings of all the ranchers: their loneliness and need for company and human interaction. Crooks got his name from his "crooked back," this suggests he represents something different and he is not your average ranch hand. The reader has to decide whether Crooks deserves sympathy, or if he is just a bitter, cruel and gruff stable-buck.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ) Steinbeck presents crooks as a law abiding man. He is described as ‘proud’ and ‘aloof’ and having a copy of the ‘California civil code for 1905’. The adjective ‘aloof’ has connotations of unfriendliness and being protective. This could be because of the lonely lifestyle of the workers but is more likely that it is the effect of the racism towards black people at the time. They were treated as a minority group and preyed upon as unworthy people. Crooks would have had to put up with this for most, if not all, of his life. It is also introduced that he had a ‘crooked spine’. The adjective ‘crooked’ is associated with bent, broken and damaged, and a crooked spine is something which ranch workers would struggle to work with. This further emphasises the determination and pride that Crooks has towards his work and that he feels that he has to work at the ranch as it is the best prospect that he has.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crooks is constantly referred to as a negro throughout the book. He is treated as someone want to or should be around. He even has his own shack because other workers refuse to sleep in the same bunkhouse as him. Plus, it’s not something that’s even kept on the down-low, he even mentioned how he knew they didn't like him and how he isn’t wanted. When Lennie asks him why he says that, he responds with, “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.”(68) He also has to live separately and be alone compared to the others who at least socialize with one another once in awhile. Because of his race, he lives an isolated life, and the thing is, around that time, he was definitely not the only one. Society frowned upon black people and would burn them at the stake if any supposed wrongful mistake or crime was committed by them. Around the great depression, there were many migrant worker who would move across the country in hopes of finding work. Around that time period, they were all looking for the same thing, a piece of land they would own, grow crops in, and have a family in. Old man Candy had his hopes set on this piece of…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck uses the character of Crooks to convey ideas about racism in 1930 America during the Great Depression. Crooks is the only black man in the novella who is ostracized by the other ranch hands and it is through his character that we experience the view of blacks in America during 1930s. Crooks doesn’t live in the bunkhouse with the…

    • 660 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 1930s in America, life for people with colour was difficult due to racism, segregation and isolation which was seen as normality back then. Black people did everything to stay out of troubled and avoid been lynched; especially by the Ku-klux-klan who still had a lot of power. Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck reflects to all these themes and other such as: The American Dream, discrimination, friendship, prejudice etc. It also reflects to the Great depression of the 1930s through Lennie and George who travelled from place to place to work (frontiersmen) and through Crooks, who reviews how Blacks were treated in the 1930s. For example, he worked as hard as or even harder than anyone in the ranch but still was unworthy because of his race and position in the society in the 1930s. The title Of Mice and men comes from Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse”, this is relevant to the novel as Steinbeck portrays his characters to be at the mercy of fate, almost as powerless as mice. The purpose of my essay is to show how Steinbeck portrays Crooks in the novel.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Steinbeck describes Crooks’ outcasted life very early in the book through Candy. Candy says how Crooks gets abuse from the boss for things that are unreasonable and not his fault. ‘An’ he give the stable buck hell too.’’Ya see the stable bucks a nigger.’ These comments suggest Crooks is a victim because he is the only character said to have been abused by the boss of the ranch, Curley’s Father. It also shows how Crooks is used as a sort of rag doll that the boss uses to take out all his frustration on.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    With these words, Crooks, a character from Of Mice and Men, demonstrates his pride for being the son of a landowner instead of a slave of the South. However, this pride is merely a small comfort, as living in California does not liberate Crooks from the clutches of racial prejudice. During the Great Depression, the era in which the story is set, African-Americans afflicted by economic inequality further suffered from the racist and bigoted opinions of society. John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men depicts Crooks, an African-American farm worker, as a man threatened by the racism of the 1930s. Steinbeck describes the effects of discrimination on Crooks, including his loneliness, crushed aspirations, and bitter attitude, to illustrate the hopelessly bleak situation for African-Americans during the Great Depression.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel Of Mice and Men, the theme of racism is expressed throughout by the character Crooks. The way they treat Crooks in the book shows the racism of the characters and how the different races act with one another.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the novel ' Of mice and men' John Steinbeck uses the character Crooks to represent racism across America and symbolise the marginalisation of the black community at the time the novel is set. From the beginning Steinbeck skillfully uses Crooks as a tool to give the reader an insight to the reality of the American Dream and what 1930's America was like. The reader has to decide whether Crooks deserves sympathy, or is just a bitter, cruel 'stable-buck'.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays