Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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During the great depression the mistreatment of African Americans was an unfortunately common practice; This mistreatment is demonstrated in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, through the character Crooks. Crooks is an African American with a “crooked” back which earned him his name Crooks. Crooks is a leather worker on the ranch who unlike most African Americans at the time, traced his lineage to farmers, rather than slaves. He aspires to return to this lifestyle, even offering his help at Lennie and Georges ranch. His treatment is representative of the treatment of African-Americans of the time. Crooks’ segregation to his own living quarters has caused him to take up a hermit-like lifestyle, and dislikes when anyone ventures into …show more content…
Also being as Crooks is handicapped, as well as a skilled laborer, he has a semi-permanent status on the ranch. Therefore, he does not have to worry about carrying his possessions from farm to farm, so he can have books, multiple pairs of shoes, and even a gun. Crooks purchased this firearm for protection against bigots, the fact that he had to buy it is a sad truth of the time period. The extent of Crooks’ isolation is shown by his resistance to Lenny's presence in his room, but after a short period of time Crooks let go of his natural distrust of people and allowed Lennie to stay. Once he was invited into the main bunkhouse when the Boss had bought the farm hands alcohol for the holidays. Promptly following his entrance into the bunkhouse, a fight breaks out. Though this treatment by the Boss may make him seem sympathetic to Crooks, that is not the case. To the boss, Crooks is a punching bag. Whenever the Boss gets angry he does not take it out on other workers, but rather on the only African American on the ranch. Through this Crooks has learned to not fight back against his mistreatment for resistance could get him fired or even
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