3.1.8
Crooks
Crooks' Intelligence and Independence
Crooks' Intelligence and Independence
Crooks experiences racial discrimination on the ranch. He is isolated from the other characters. He is also an independent figure.
Master of his own environment
Master of his own environment
- Although the other characters treat Crooks very unfairly, it is worth noting that Crooks is very much the master of his own environment.
- He has his own barn, and he is normally very strict about who he allows to come inside: “You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” (Crooks, Section 4).
Intelligent and wise character
Intelligent and wise character
- Although very few of the ranch workers see Crooks as an equal, he is generally considered to be an intelligent and wise character: “He reads a lot. Got books in his room.” (Candy, Section 2).
Past experiences
Past experiences
- Crooks reveals information about his childhood to Lennie.
- He reveals that his family were one of the only black families in the area.
- “There wasn't another colored family for miles around. And now there ain't a colored man on this ranch an' there's jus' one family in Soledad.” (Crooks, Section 4).
Crooks' Physical and Emotional Pain
Crooks' Physical and Emotional Pain
Crooks' name comes from his cripple. Whilst he is in physical pain, he is also in emotional pain. This is due to the racial abuse he regularly faces.
Physical pain
Physical pain
- Crooks gets his name because he has a “crooked back where a horse kicked him” (Candy, Section 2), and it is clear that this physical ailment causes him to live his life in pain: “He had thin, pain-tightened lips” (Section 4).
Victim of racism
Victim of racism
- Steinbeck presents racist attitudes throughout the novel and, while not every character is racist, problems such as Candy’s repeated use of racist language when referring to Crooks go unchallenged by the others: “Ya see the stable buck's a n**ger.” (Candy, Section 2)
- Crooks is forced to live separately from the other men as racial segregation is strictly enforced on the ranch: “They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black.” (Crooks, Section 4).
Powerlessness
Powerlessness
- Curley’s wife's scathing verbal attack on Crooks shows he has no power at all: “I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.” (Curley’s wife, Section 4).
- In response to this attack, Crooks suddenly closes himself off from everybody else. Steinbeck does this to show the crippling effects of racism on individuals: “Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego.” (Section 4).
1Context & Overview
1.1Context & Overview
2Plot
2.1Section 1 - Analysis
2.2Section 2 - Analysis
2.3Section 3 - Analysis
2.4Section 4 - Analysis
2.5Section 5 - Analysis
2.6Section 6 - Analysis
3Key Characters
3.1Main Characters
3.2Minor Characters
4Themes
5Authorial Method
Jump to other topics
1Context & Overview
1.1Context & Overview
2Plot
2.1Section 1 - Analysis
2.2Section 2 - Analysis
2.3Section 3 - Analysis
2.4Section 4 - Analysis
2.5Section 5 - Analysis
2.6Section 6 - Analysis
3Key Characters
3.1Main Characters
3.2Minor Characters
4Themes
5Authorial Method
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