How Does Steinbeck Present Crooks

Explore how Steinbeck presents and develops the character of Crooks, in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’

In the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ written by John Steinbeck, the author presents and develops the character ‘Crooks – The stable buck’ to highlight one of the major themes of Racism and Discrimination in the novella which was a problem that troubled American Society in the 1930’s, during the great depression. Steinbeck explores the character Crooks by examining the nature and effects of the racism and the horrible treatment towards Crooks on the ranch, in which the ranch is a microcosm of American society and represents harsh reality of the America in the 1930’s
John Steinbeck presents the character of Crooks in many different ways throughout
Steinbeck firstly presents the stable buck in this section by describing his physical appearance; “a lean negro head, lined with pain, the eyes patient.” This links back to the previous presentation from the preceding section where Candy gossips about Crooks’ disability in which Candy describes Crooks as “Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him.” From this description of Crooks’ first appearance we see that this disability had a major effect on Crooks’ character and reinforces how somewhat insignificant Crooks as a character is, as it makes the reader sympathetic for Crooks. Steinbeck also presents Crooks to the reader through the use of the technique of dialogue in his first appearance in the book. “Mr Slim.” Slim took his eyes from old Candy. “Huh?” Oh! Hello, Crooks. What’s’ a matter?” The dialogue between the two characters suggests that Crooks is quite hesitant or is patiently waiting for Slim to respond, he refers to Slim as “Mr. Slim”, and this shows that Crooks knows his place as an out casted individual on the ranch as well as representing the demographic of black people in American society. The continuation of the dialogue illustrates his position on the farm as an insignificant ranch worker, in comparison to the other workers Crooks is not treated as an individual. Steinbeck illustrates this to the reader with the conversation between Crooks and Slim; “You told me to warm up that tar for that mule’s foot. I got it warm.” “Oh! Sure, Crooks. I’ll come right out an’ put it on”“I can do it if you want, Mr. Slim.”“No. I’ll come and do it myself.” Steinbeck uses this dialogue to illustrate and convey to the reader that others talk to him as if he is not his own individual, and that he is discriminated by this. This impression of Crooks that the reader