‘Of Mice and Men’ Essay
Steinbeck presents some of his characters as being weak in some way. But the characters I think that are even weaker than the other characters are Crooks and Candy. They both are weak in many ways but they are also similar in some ways.
Crooks, who is weaker of the two, is a black and a stable buck. He is weak in many ways. Firstly, he is the only black man in the ranch which would make him isolated. This means he can’t go into the bunkhouse or socialise with the other men. Because of this he is very lonely and has no one to talk to. “S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you were black...A guy needs somebody-to be near him....I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.” He is always called the “nigger” by the men and he receives a huge amount of insults and racism most of the time. A good example of this is when Curley’s wife calls him a “nigger” and tells him “You know what I could do” which would make anyone weak and inferior to others. Secondly, he is also weaker in his physical state. This is because he has injured his back in an accident and gives his back a constant pain; “Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him.” However, Crooks has also some strengths such as, he is intelligent because he has a numerous books, beats everyone on the ranch playing horseshoes and makes an attempt to stand up against Curley’s wife racist threat. But his strengths and abilities are covered up and blinded by his weakness.
