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Crooks
® Crooks Is symbolic of people who are discriminated against because
of their race. Crooks is another character used by Steinbeck to
represent discrimination as he is disabled and the only black person
on the ranch.
® His characters help show how racism was in 1930s - he had to sleep in
his own separate barn not the bunkhouse, Candy realises he had
never been in his room and George's reaction to Crooks being apart
of the dream was enough for him to not want to be apart of it.
® Crooks has the characteristic features of a tragic hero. We learn he
comes from an independent, somewhat successful family
background and his behaviour is likened to ‘a proud, aloof man’.
® Unlike what the stereotype of the time was where we would expect
Crooks to keep his mouth shut his downfall stems from him attempting
to confront Curley’s wife, despite the contextual reality that white
women were still better than any black person.
® However unlike characters like Curley he knew the consequences of
what he said and admits: ‘What she says is true’ and we see his
downfall as him being forced reduce himself ‘to nothing’ with ‘no
personality’ as would’ve naturally been expected.
QUALITIES:
Lonely & Isolated:
® Like the majority of the other characters within the novel, Crooks
admits that he is extremely lonely, and this is revealed when Lennie
visits him in his room. At first, he turns Lennie away, trying to prove that
as a black man, he deserves his own rights. However, his hunger for
company overalls, and so he allows Lennie to sit with him- he can see
that Lennie genuinely wants to be with him, unlike the other men.
Crooks illustrates the horrible effects loneliness has on his and he gains
sympathy from the reader as he makes his cruel behaviour
explanatory, such as when he turns his vulnerability into a weapon to
attack Lennie, suggesting George is gone. This could demonstrate
how Crooks just wants a sense of belonging and how black people
were outcast and frowned upon and given horrible names. Crooks
craves a sense of belonging with the other ranch workers in which he
wishes to be able to play cards with the other ranch workers and so is
possibly a key factor in why he wants to hoe the garden, despite his
realistic views that the dream is myth
, ® ENGLISH GCSE – OF MICE & MEN
Realist:
➝ Crook’s passage in section 4 brings the reader back to reality. Just
after Lennie has shared his dream and plans to buy a farm with
George and raise rabbits, Crooks tries to deflate Lennie’s hopes.
➝ He relates that ‘hundreds’ of men have passed through the ranch, all
with very similar dream. He emphasises with bitterness how none of
them ever managed to make their dream come true.
➝ Crooks brings back a sense of reality to the novel, and so reminds the
reader that the dream of the farm is just a dream after all. This
moment within the novel establishes Crook’s character, showing the
reader how a lifetime of loneliness and oppression can lead to cruelty.
➝ Crooks shows that even those who are oppressed, such as himself,
attack those who are even weaker than they are. You’d think that the
weak know what it feels like to be treated badly and wouldn’t want to
cause the suffering they’ve been through to others.
➝ However Steinbeck demonstrates how it instead leads the weak on to
treat others how they have been treated- their anger that has built up
over the years has to go somewhere, after all.
Defensive:
➝ Crooks hides his loneliness by being proud and aloof. He tries to show
that it doesn't effect him but Steinbeck makes it clear that it does.
➝ People get a frosty welcome into his room, privacy is one of the few
rights that he has. He is the only black man in the book.
➝ He is excluded from the bunk house and Steinbeck is showing how
black people were usually treated in America in the 1930s.
Used:
® Crooks is treated badly by the boss and other characters. Other
characters fee it’s acceptable to talk down to him and use
derogatory terms which takes it’s toll on Crooks’ mental health but
none of the characters seem to care and Crooks hides this from
everyone as well.
® Candy tells us that the boss treats him badly and shouts at him when
he’s angry and this evokes sympathy for the reader. He is also invited
into the bunk house on Christmas but is forced to fight another ranch
worker who takes the mick out of his disability and allows himself not
to move otherwise he would’ve ‘killed the nigger’.
® In a lot of ways Crooks is misused and his intelligence, we know
because of his love for books as this is how he spends his time when
segregated from society, is also under-utilised.
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