Why is the character of Crooks important in "Of Mice and Men"

Although he is separated from the other men, he still has many personal possessions. Like the other men on the ranch his possessions say a lot about him. In his room he has "rubber boots", "a big alarm clock", and "a shot gun" which shows that although he is a cripple he is very active and practical. He also has many tools; here John Steinback is trying to show that although he is black he is very skilled and capable with his hands. This medicine is a symbol of his life time worth of work and unlike other men he permanent on the ranch.

As he is black he does not have much of a relationship with any of the other characters, because of this he finds it shocking that Lennie enters his room. He says:

"You go on get outta my room. I ain't wanted in the bunk house, and you ain't wanted in my room"

Here we see that Crooks knows about his rights and that he has accepted that he is discriminated against because of his colour and because of this he has learnt to treat white people how they treat him.

When Crooks finally lets Lennie into his room , he finds that Lennie is a weak character:

"S'pose George don't come back no more"

Here we see that Crooks is very smart and that he can sense that Lennie is very venerable. He uses Lennie as his act to white people as he knows that he can get through to Lennie's weakness:

"Crooks face lightened with pleasure in torture"

Crooks find the fact that he can get to Lennie slightly rewarding considering that fact he has suffered by white people all his life. In the book Crooks is much like a symbol for all black people in that time, from him we get a sense of how all black people were treated:

"This is just a nigger talkin', an a busted-back nigger. So it don't mean nothing"

Crooks knows that he will never get a chance to speak freely and that his voice does not count as much around the ranch, like most black people of that period.

Crooks' like most men on the ranch is relatively lonely:

"I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick"

Here we see Crooks confiding in Lennie as he has no one else to confide in and we also see that Crooks is happy to talk to Lennie because he does not have much contact with any one on the ranch. When Candy enters his room he is happy to have some one else to talk to but he does not show this:

"It was difficult to conceal his pleasure with anger"

Crooks does not want to show them he likes the attention because he does not want them to get the better of him, this is because he has already suffered too much at the hands of white people.

We can tell that Crooks' dreams have been shattered because of the life he has faced and because of this reason he rejects Lennie's dream:

"I see hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches with bindles on their back an' the same damn thing in their heads"

This indicates to us that not only does he not believe Lennie but he has been working for a long time.

In the middle of the chapter Crooks has his high when he is treated as one of guys, this is all good until Curley's wife enters , she insults all the men and especially Crooks:

"Listen, Nigger", "You know what I can do if you open your trap"

Here Crooks is put back into his place in society, and again Crooks is disappointed. We see from a young age Crooks is taught to deal with disappointment:

"The white kids come to play at our place" "My ol' man didn't like that. I never knew till long later why he didn't like that"

This shows that Crooks was taught that his dreams would never come true.

At the end of chapter four we see him once again rejecting the dream as he has been hurt by Curley's wife. We also see that he is rubbing liniment on his back as he was at the start of the chapter this indicates to us that he realises that nothing has changed and that he will always be at the bottom of society because of his disability as well as his colour.

Reena S. Gandesha

English "Of Mice and Men"