Explore the Ways Crooks Is Presented and Developed in "Of Mice and Men" Essay Example
Explore the ways Crooks is presented and developed in “Of Mice And Men”
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.
Firstly, Crooks is the only black man on the ranch illustrating that he is an outcast. Due to his skin colour, he was mostly known as a “nigger” and in some cases as “Stable buck or Crooks”. Through the names he’s given, it indicates how as a human being he’s not even given or called by his real name. The term “Nigger” was often used slightingly, by the mid-20th century, particularly in the United States, its usage had become unambiguously pejorative, a common ethnic slur usually directed at people of Sub-Saharan African descent. However, in the modern world, it is highly offensive to use such a word at someone but during the racial period of the Great Depression it was used quite freely. On the other hand, because of prejudice that’s aimed at him we can assume why he was forced to live by himself in “a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn”. This shows how he doesn’t live with the rest of the workers in the ranch as they don’t even want to breathe the same air as Crooks. He’s been physically and mentally separated from the other “white” workers, it shows a divided community but on racism. As an audience or reader we can understand the difficulties many Black ethnics have gone through. An example would be the slavery triangle. Even though he
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.
Firstly, Crooks is the only black man on the ranch illustrating that he is an outcast. Due to his skin colour, he was mostly known as a “nigger” and in some cases as “Stable buck or Crooks”. Through the names he’s given, it indicates how as a human being he’s not even given or called by his real name. The term “Nigger” was often used slightingly, by the mid-20th century, particularly in the United States, its usage had become unambiguously pejorative, a common ethnic slur usually directed at people of Sub-Saharan African descent. However, in the modern world, it is highly offensive to use such a word at someone but during the racial period of the Great Depression it was used quite freely. On the other hand, because of prejudice that’s aimed at him we can assume why he was forced to live by himself in “a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn”. This shows how he doesn’t live with the rest of the workers in the ranch as they don’t even want to breathe the same air as Crooks. He’s been physically and mentally separated from the other “white” workers, it shows a divided community but on racism. As an audience or reader we can understand the difficulties many Black ethnics have gone through. An example would be the slavery triangle. Even though he