His possession reveals a lot about him and his personality.
The ‘big alarm clock’ shows that he likes to be organized and keep to his schedule.
He’s very cautious, and is always on guard, yet his constant defensiveness has put a distance between him and the working men. This is the main reason why he is not immediately likable.
The copy of civil code shows that he is always aware of his rights, and demands other people to respect and keep their distance.
The tattered dictionary and the spectacles all shows that he is wise, intelligent and thoughtful. Legally, Crooks should be a second class citizen, yet ironically; he is the only educated person on the ranch.
His physical appearance indicates that he is a serious and aloof man. His aloof manner makes him think that he superior than the white men. In the cause of his twisted spine, Crooks probably lives with a constant pain in his back. The description builds up an image, which shows that Crooks is an independent and proud person. We know this, because people often come to him for practical advice.
Together with the pain, frustration and eternal loneliness, this was probably the cause, which made Crooks to behave the way he is.
My first impression of Crooks at the start of chapter four is that he is very lonely. The beginning five paragraphs of chapter four all devotes to detailed descriptions, yet there was no communication and hardly any movement in the room which emphasizes the silence. Crook’s ‘little shed’ is a contrast to the bunkroom, because the bunkroom is always full of workers, whereas Crooks is always alone his shed.
He wants company, but he’s been isolated for so long that he’s forgotten how to make friends. Which is why when Lennie came into his room, he was very cautious and put on an unwelcoming expression.
He puts on a fake image of defensiveness, so it will prevent the white men from pitying him because he is a proud man.
Even though Crooks knew that Lennie couldn’t understand him, he was still on guard. Throughout the chapter, Crooks begins to open up to Lennie, and tells him things that he had never told anyone else. From his speech, we learnt that when Crooks was young, his father forbid him to be in contact with white men, because he didn’t want to lead Crooks into having a positive image of white men to in order to prevent him from getting hurt in the future.
Towards the middle of the chapter, we come across a “new” Crooks who had broken through his hard shell, and hatched into a vulnerable and piteous child who only wants to have someone to talk to. Crook’s loneliness overwhelms his awareness, and he spills out the truth, which he’d been hiding for so long.
“S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause your black. How’d you like that?…A guy 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.”
Crook’s speech broke the tension between him and Lennie-which had built up when he tried to scare Lennie into thinking that George is not going to come back. For the first time in his life, Crooks realized that he had verbal power over Lennie (white man), and he uses this power to intimidate and torture Lennie-who is a symbol of the white community and for which Crooks is aiming his frustration at. The reason why he did this was because he wanted to prove to himself that he is superior and more intelligent than white men are.
Crooks is probably a very sensitive person, yet he throws on a tough act to make people think he doesn’t care when he is actually hurt. His defensive manner acts as a shield, which protects him from the direct abuse and bullying.
I pity Crooks because he is such a lonely man, and no matter how he tries to keep distance from other people, his vulnerability will always remain.
His guarded attitude makes him unapproachable and not immediately likable. Although he is a proud man, he doesn’t go around showing off his skills or trying to compete with other people’s intelligence, because he knows that he is superior and wiser than white people.
His behavior with Lennie shows that he only wants to be a part of the community, yet he is unable to associate because he is black. I think he is probably jealous of George and Lennie, who’s been on the ranch for only a few days and they already earned friendship with Slim, Candy, Carlson. Etc.
Loneliness is the main theme in the story, and most of it directs on Crooks.
Although Curley’s wife indicates that she is lonely, the irony is that she is always chatting and flirting with the workers. Meanwhile she is not separated or forbidden to talk to or being bullied like Crooks.
Crooks represents black’s people’s frustrations at being segregated and isolated from the rest of America, that although they are putting a lot of effort into their hard work, they are not earning what they’ve always wanted- Freedom.
Amy Yu
