Character Analysis Of Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Words: 424
Pages: 2

john Steinbeck’s classic novel “Of Mice And Men,” tells a realistic story of the Great Depression, as all the characters have a deep symbol of how life was like during the great depression. Throughout the novel, these rich characters show the fractured truth of the American dream. Crooks is one of these characters who struggles with simply finding someone to sympathize with. Crooks is a perfect symbol of isolation, the truth of the American Dream, and roles of society within the Steinbeck’s novel.
Crooks further exhibits his isolation when he is forced to stay in the barn away from the other guys. Although Crooks is a smart and nice guy, this is offset by his skin color, causing the other guys to shun him away. Crooks is not allowed to play
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When crooks w talked to Curley's wife, she proved that she was low on the social scale, but not as low as crooks. When crooks tried to make Curley's wife leave, she says,”I could get you strung up on a tree so fast it ain’t even funny” (Steinbeck 81). Here Curley's wife makes it explicitly clear that crooks is rock bottom on the social ladder. Most of all, Crooks is a perfect illustration of the American Dream, or as it should be called the Naive Dream. Through the story, every character built upon has there own American dream, and there own realization that not everyone gets that dream. Crooks knowing this from the get-go says They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it.” (Steinbeck 74). Crooks explains that there is no American dream, just a foolish hope. As the novel goes on, the motifs of isolation, the truth of the American Dream, and roles of society stick with crooks like a shadow. These three motifs lead us to the theme of the novel; the American dream is just fools gold, looks amazing but worth nothing. Crooks almost fell for the dream Lennie George and Candy new, but in the end, he knew it was nothing but