In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses the ranch as a demonstration of marginalization between characters' lives. Those who have no control over their lives lose all or any little source of power they had and hand it over to the people in positions of power way higher than them. Throughout the journey on the ranch, many characters experience different demonstrations of marginalization such as gender, race and poverty. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, illustrates the experiences of Curley’s Wife and Crooks, and how gender and race compounds the character’s feelings of isolation and loneliness. Curley’s Wife feels like she’s stuck and is there to just look pretty with no friends, making her feel alone and isolated. Curley’s Wife tells Lennie …show more content…
Crooks bunk is away from everyone else’s as it is in the stable closet. He is isolated due to the color of his skin. “Crooks the n stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room” (Steinbeck 66). This demostrates how alone and far away he is from all the other ranchers. This can make him feel alone and sad as he has no one to talk too and hangout with. Lennie has just met Crooks and has asked why he doesn’t bunk with the rest of the men. Crooks explains that “Cause I’m black. They play cards there, but I can’t play,” all the other ranches according to Crooks, ‘They say I stick. Well, I tell you, ya all of you stick to me” (Steinbeck 67). Since Crooks is black nobody wants to associate with him, and don’t let him play cards, and he has to sleep seperate and away from everyone else. Curley’s Wife is telling Crooks how she can easily mess up his life as she has all the power. “She closed on him ‘You know what I could do?’ Crooks seemed to grow smaller and he pressed himself against the wall ‘Yes Ma’am, ‘Well you keep in your place n . I could get you strung up on a tree so easily it ain’t even funny” (Steinbeck 78-79). As a result, Crooks has no power and is only here for work and nothing else, as that is all anyone needs him for since he has no friends and no onounce of