Of Mice and Men: A Character Analysis of Crooks.
6 January 2004
Daniel Rollé
Prep
Of Mice and Men:
A Character Analysis of Crooks
It is noticeable throughout 'Of Mice and Men' that Crooks is portrayed by Steinbeck to be an outcast. It is clear that there is a large divide between Crooks and the other men on the ranch. Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, and it is for this reason alone that he is excluded from normal life on the ranch. Crooks does not sleep with the other men in the bunk houses, but instead has his own place to sleep in the barn. He is not allowed to socialise with the other men and instead lives a life of solitude in his room.
Crooks has a bad back, which makes it hard for him to buck barley and work in the field like the other ranchers. Instead, he does odd jobs on the ranch. This could be another reason for his being outcast, since Candy is also seen somewhat as an outcast because of his disabilities.
Crooks seems to be and intellectual man, and certainly well read, from the description of his room. He has, along with a few other possessions, a few books; these included a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. Although these do not seem significant, they do show that Crook was both educated and possibly wealthy. He does tell of his fathers ranch, which could mean that he was once well off - however we are not told what became of these riches. The tools that hang on his wall show that he ...
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Crooks seems to be and intellectual man, and certainly well read, from the description of his room. He has, along with a few other possessions, a few books; these included a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. Although these do not seem significant, they do show that Crook was both educated and possibly wealthy. He does tell of his fathers ranch, which could mean that he was once well off - however we are not told what became of these riches. The tools that hang on his wall show that he is skilled in his craft, and we are told that he does his job as stable buck well.
Crooks resents being excluded from life at the ranch, but it is something that he has got used to. It seems as if he wants to get his own back on the white people on the ranch by not allowing them to come into his own, private space, and marking out his own territory: "You got no right to come in my room.....You go on get outa my room. I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain't wanted in my room." Crooks' mistreatment makes him seem bitter and gruff towards white people and seems not to want any interaction with other people who are not the same as him. It is for this reason that he is cruel towards Lennie and taunts him. It is not because he dislikes Lennie or is naturally a nasty man, but is because he wants Lennie to realise what it is like to be him and how he resents being judged inferior because of the colour of his skin.
Crooks lives a lonely life, and he does not enjoy this: "Sure, you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs someone - to be near him. A guys goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, an' he gets sick." He is telling of the need for human interaction, the need for company and the need for someone to care and provide security. The oppression Crooks experiences in living in a barn and not in the bunkhouse where he could play rummy as one of the group leads him to this desperate plea to be realised as equal. Crooks, like Candy, wants to be wanted.
Crooks mistreatment has also made him cynical. Whenever the American Dream is mentioned, he dismisses it. "I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches with their bindles on their backs an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on......An' never a god-damn one of 'em gets it." It seems as if Crooks has no hope and lives a life of stark realism. However, he does reminisce on his childhood years, where he had "a strawberry patch", "an alfalfa patch" and "Used to turn the chickens out on the alfalfa on a sunny morning." This reinforces the idea that everyone has a dream, and Crooks' 'American Dream' is to experience the joys of his childhood again, where he was not seen as different and lived a happy normal life.
Crooks is not naturally a cruel or cynical person, but his treatment at the ranch has shed light on the darker side of his personality. Crooks only wishes to be treated equally and fairly, so that he can live a normal life again. Perhaps the ranch embodies the Southern American Society in that it is a 'microcosm', where the relationships between white and black people represent the tides of feelings and conflicts of the whole society. I think that this is the point that Steinbeck was trying to make through Crooks, and the relationships that he has with others reflect the divided American Society in the 1930s.
