How does the author present the character of Crooks
a) How does the author present the character of Crooks?
In 'Of Mice and Men' Crooks is presented as a lonely man who quickly gains our sympathy as readers. Steinbeck's novel as a whole uncovers the loneliness at the heart of American society at the time, using a microcosm of this society represented by the ranch. The ranch houses a number of figures arguably intended to represent different aspects of mankind. The boss and his son represent the capitalist figures in society who are withdrawn yet threatening to those below them, while George represents a man of his time, trying to do the right thing; Lennie represents everything that is good about mankind and its gentle quality, however he is unable to control his destructive ability or even to comprehend this quality. In many ways Lennie is mankind itself at its best and worst, arguably he is the element of Man that attempts to be good, but is ultimately destructive. Steinbeck is potentially using him to illustrate that men, by definition, will destroy whether they set out to or not. Slim also is a flawed man, he is cold and indifferent even though he is princely, 'a master craftsmen', wishing to be shot rather than grow old and useless like the dog and by extension, Candy. However, in all this Crooks is set apart.
Crooks' home itself is a lean-to against the larger building, the barn. This suggests that in whatever structure there might be, whether it is the structure of society or physical housing, someone like Crooks will always be at the fringe, he is after all a 'nigger'. Candy informs us of this fact in chapter two, prior to meeting
Crooks, he isn't mean about him in the way that he is about Curly's wife, but he states very plainly the view towards black people through his choice of language. He even points out that he saw Curly's wife not only 'give Slim the eys', but Crooks as well. He suggests two things here, firstly that Curly's wife is so sexually promiscuous that she looks
In 'Of Mice and Men' Crooks is presented as a lonely man who quickly gains our sympathy as readers. Steinbeck's novel as a whole uncovers the loneliness at the heart of American society at the time, using a microcosm of this society represented by the ranch. The ranch houses a number of figures arguably intended to represent different aspects of mankind. The boss and his son represent the capitalist figures in society who are withdrawn yet threatening to those below them, while George represents a man of his time, trying to do the right thing; Lennie represents everything that is good about mankind and its gentle quality, however he is unable to control his destructive ability or even to comprehend this quality. In many ways Lennie is mankind itself at its best and worst, arguably he is the element of Man that attempts to be good, but is ultimately destructive. Steinbeck is potentially using him to illustrate that men, by definition, will destroy whether they set out to or not. Slim also is a flawed man, he is cold and indifferent even though he is princely, 'a master craftsmen', wishing to be shot rather than grow old and useless like the dog and by extension, Candy. However, in all this Crooks is set apart.
Crooks' home itself is a lean-to against the larger building, the barn. This suggests that in whatever structure there might be, whether it is the structure of society or physical housing, someone like Crooks will always be at the fringe, he is after all a 'nigger'. Candy informs us of this fact in chapter two, prior to meeting
Crooks, he isn't mean about him in the way that he is about Curly's wife, but he states very plainly the view towards black people through his choice of language. He even points out that he saw Curly's wife not only 'give Slim the eys', but Crooks as well. He suggests two things here, firstly that Curly's wife is so sexually promiscuous that she looks