Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck: Character Analysis

In the 1930s, 1.3 million people migrated to California looking for any work to make a better life. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, he specifically shows the different reactions to the 1930s conflicts: racism, The Great Depression, and itinerant jobs. Steinbeck shows the many contrasting reactions of people in the face of adversity and hardships.
When human beings are faced with hardships and adversity, all will react differently because of his/her’s past experiences. In Of Mice and Men, Curley, Slim, Crooks, and Lennie all are struggling with the difficulties of the farm, but each handle the situation differently because of their positions. In Chapter 2, the characters Curley and Slim are both introduced to the reader, but
He lives in the barn and keeps to himself, with only his books to keep him company. When Lennie tries to join him while everyone else is out drinking, Crooks is unwelcoming at first because of his past experiences, with the other white men on the farm and in his lifetime. He firmly states, “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me” (Steinbeck 68). After he finds out Lennie is easy to talk to and not judgmental, he realizes he can open up to Lennie and share his lonely life problems. Crooks soon realizes he can torment Lennie, because of his limited mental capacity, and no longer be the victim, but the predator. He taunts Lennie by wickedly saying, “S’pose George don't come back no more. S’pose he took a powder and just ain’t coming back. What’ll you do then?” (Steinbeck 71). Because of the past discrimination Crooks experienced, he becomes a recluse. Crooks only stops taunting him when he realizes how dangerous Lennie could become. Crooks dealt with his struggles on the farm and discrimination, by taking control of the situation and by becoming the discriminator, which both were foreign to