Of Mice and Men Essay

Steinbeck Presents Crooks in the novel as quite a lonely ¬but strong, clever and talented man. We can tell he is lonely because he lives on his own in a small shed with one little room. This is shown when Steinbeck writes: “Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room... On one side of the little room...” and also “... a little bench for leather-working tools, curved knives and needles...” However it shows us that he has more freedom then the other men as it says: “Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than other men...” This tells us that although he is excluded from the other men in the workplace, it shows us that he can have more freedom then the other men and also he works longer than other men do.
In Chapter 3 when Crooks appears in the novel for the first time, we get some description of him. Steinbeck writes “.... and the stable buck put in his head; a lean negro head, lined with pain, the eye patient”. This description of Crooks is quite negative and racist as he uses the work Negro and that also he is being described differently to the other characters. Steinbeck’s use of language is quite racist as he calls Crooks a “Nigger” and “Negro” instead of saying his real name. He didn’t use his real name and he calls him “Nigger and Negro” because he didn’t think he was a very important character. In the 1930s black people were treated very unfairly. Later in the book, Crooks gets mentioned by other men but this time to praise him as they are playing a game of horseshoe but they talk about how good Crooks is at the game. This is shown when Carlson says “Jesus, how that nigger can pitch shoes”. This links back to the point that Crooks has lots of talent, probably more talent than the other men do.
In the beginning of chapter 4 it tells us that Crooks doesn’t really get any light and friendliness in the place. This is shown when his room has only a “square four paned window.” This