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.…
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.…
Of Mice and Men is set in 1930’s America in the middle of the economic depression. It is geared towards the pursuit of the American dream, promoting the ideas of equality, life, liberty and happiness. Steinbeck uses Crooks, and to some extent Curley’s wife to challenge the perception of equality and sometimes the language used is, by modern standards, racist and misogynistic. There is an irony in the fact that the people judging Crooks are less intelligent than he is and they refuse to look at anything other than the stereotype of his ethnicity. Steinbeck reveals as much about Crooks in the things he does not express as in the things he does.…
The author's portrayal of Crooks' living environment allows him to show the unfairness of the way the American society discriminate the black. Crooks 'had his bunk in the harness room' and his bunk was made up of 'a long bed filled with straw'. His medicine bottles were 'both for himself and for the horses'. The reason he was badly treated is that he is black. The author…
Published in 1937, John Steinbeck wrote a moving and powerful novel titled, Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck’s reliance on textual description makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and reoccurring images. Equally important is the way Steinebeck intertwines loneliness, friendship, and sadness. A professor at the University of San Jose stated, “The near impossibility of attaining the American Dream in the face of the huge and random challenges, like natural and economic disasters became the central theme of Steinbeck’s novel” (“Of Mice and Men – Critical Reception” 1). Marxist and New Criticism were the two approaches applied to the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.…
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.…
One of the ways that Steinbeck creates sympathy for Crooks is through his description of him. In chapter 4 the reader learns that Crooks is ‘aloof’ but despite this Steinbeck manages to create compassion for him. The reader fully understands the distance that Crooks ‘demands’ from the white men – it is simply the only right he would have as a black man, the right of segregation. The reader also shares his feelings of wanting to…
The novella Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck during the 1930s. The novella is set in Soledad, California, ironically this term ‘Soledad’ means isolation and loneliness in Spanish which is clearly the life many characters lead in the novella. In this time of economic hardship, we follow the journey of two migrant workers, George and Lenny; both with a dream. A dream of having land of their own, however this is proven difficult to achieve as they face many obstacles. Travelling from place to place, the two find work on a ranch in California’s Salinas Valley, meeting many new characters. Crooks being one of them. Crooks is a crippled Negro stable buck living a isolated and lonely life because of his skin colour. The name Crooks derives from his crooked back, caused by a horse kick in his earlier years.…
Steinbeck represents the character, Crooks, by showing the effects of discrimination. He is referred to as the ‘black’ stable buck and is named Crooks, due to the crook in his back, which was a result of being kicked in the back by a horse. The character is shown as reasonably literate, due to the possession of his books, which he uses as compensation to his loneliness. The reader would have a lot of sympathy for Crooks, as he is treated unfairly and acts very lonely, showing he doesn’t have anyone to comfort him and to talk about his problems to.…
Crooks, known as “stable buck”, was an African American man who was racially segregated by most. The setting of the novel was told during the Great Depression, a time when racial discrimination was common. Because of the time period, Crooks faced prejudice treatment by the white workers and suffered the feeling of loneliness. This feature was shown when the favored men of the ranch…
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.…
John Steinbeck (born in 1902) was a talented Californian writer. Steinbeck spent much of his time in New York and the Salinas Valley. Although he spent a few years at Stanford University, he desperately wanted to be a writer, therefore he started writing. His work includes The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, The Red Pony, East of Eden and of course, Of Mice and Men. Hollywood loved Steinbeck and even made these very books in to film adaptations. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for his realistic but imaginative writings. In this essay I will be talking about one of John’s well known books, Of Mice and Men. This story is about two travelling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to get their own house and farm. The tale is based is 1930’s America during the Great Depression. This book encompasses themes of prejudice, racism and the fight for personal independence.…
In this passage, how does Steinbeck present Crooks? Refer closely to the passage in your answer.…
In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ the character of Crooks is subject to constant racial discrimination. This shows the time period of the book as 1930’s America was a very prejudice and racist place.…
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'.…