Why Men Enter Crooks Room In Of Mice And Men

In 1929, Wall Street suffers the greatest crash in U.S. history. The crash led to the Great Depression, causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs. Author John Steinbeck lived in California during the Great Depression, working as a ranch and. During this time period, he wrote several of his most popular novels during this time period. Many of his books feature similar situations to his experience as a ranch hand. In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck explores the lives of Lennie and George, two men that recently came to Soledad, California to work on a ranch. In Of Mice and Men, Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife all enter Crooks’s room in an attempt to obtain companionship. Through the reasons why they enter Crooks’s room, how they

Crooks insults Lennie’s intelligence multiple times while he is in his room. Upon arriving in Crooks’s room, Lennie explains to Crooks about his plans to tend to the rabbits and own his own farm with George. In response to Lennie’s dream, Crooks states that Lennie is “nuts”(69) and “crazy as a wedge” (69). Despite initially inviting Lennie into his room to gain companionship, Crooks constantly points out Lennie’s unintelligence. Usually, Crooks is an outsider among the men at the ranch. Earlier, Crooks mentions that the ranch hands will not let him play cards with them because he “stinks”. Crooks himself even says that nobody listens to what he has to say as it is“just a nigger talkin” (71). The fact that Crooks calls himself a nigger demonstrates that he does not have a very high opinion of himself. Crooks continuously mocks Lennie’s stupidity to make himself feel better about his own self worth. Similarly, Curley’s wife ridicules Lennie, Crooks, and Candy’s weaknesses. As soon as Curley’s wife walks into Crooks’s room, she exclaims that the other ranch hands “left all the weak ones” (77) at the ranch. Later on, she expresses her frustration at being stuck at the ranch with “bindle stiffs-a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sleep” (78) instead of being in the pitchers. Curley’s wife is upset that she is not able to fulfill her dreams of an actress, Instead

During his conversation with Lennie, Crooks jokes around with him. Crooks tells Lennie to “s’pose George don’t come back no more” (71), which ends up scaring Lennie. Crooks takes pleasure in messing with Lennie’s head as his face lights up with “pleasure in his torture” (71). As Crooks is usually powerless due to his skin color, he takes enjoyment in the power he receives from manipulating Lennie. When Crooks continues to joke that George will never come back, Lennie threatens Crooks, Lennie walks “dangerously towards Crooks” (71) and demands he tell him what happened to George. Crooks edges “back on his bunk”, implying that Lennie plans on hurting Crooks. Lennie visits Crooks in an attempt to form a friendship. However, Lennie has already tried to hurt Crooks, even though he has just met him. Lennie’s fear of being on his own interferes with his new relationship with Crooks. Curley’s wife threatens Crooks as well. After Crooks demands Curley’s wife leaves his room, she tells him that he better keep his mouth shut as she can get him “strung up on a tree so easy.” (81) Curley’s wife uses this threat to put Crooks into his place and make it clear to him that she is superior to him. She is once again insulting Crooks in order to feel better about herself. After Curley’s wife threatens Crooks, Candy tells Curley’s wife that if she leaves, they will not “tell Curley” (81)