Leo Dolliver Bastow English 11 13 March 2023 Loneliness Can Destroy Your Quality of Life Crooks is described as a lonely man in this novella. He gets excluded from most things. He has to stay in a room by himself. He surrounds himself with possessions in his room to fill the gap of loneliness he feels. All of this is simply because he is a black man. Crooks finds this exclusion especially unfair because where he's from there weren't slaves. He gets treated horribly by these people but yet he still wants them to accept him as they would the other white people. Crooks often masks his words with distaste but he does enjoy any kind of company he can get. Overall Crooks is driven by loneliness. Lennie sees the light in Crook's room and is attracted by it. He goes in there unknowing it's Crook's room and Crooks …show more content…
So because of this, he doesn't understand why Crooks is not included in things such as cards. When Crooks gets prompted with this he talks in an irritated tone "they play cards in there, but I can't because I'm black, they say I stink. " (68). Though Crooks often conceals his words with anger when he's actually not in this statement his anger shows through because it really does upset him that he doesn't get to be included in such things. When Candy ends up joining Crooks and Lennie in Crook's' room, George and Lennies dream that Candy joined gets brought up. This sparks Crook's' interest. He says he could help out there for free if he can just have a place to stay there. The other men come back from town and George ends up finding Lennie and Candy in Crook's room and tells them to get out of there. Before Candy can leave Crooks calls for him and he says " I didn't mean it, jus foolin." (83). Candy doesn't think much of it. For Crooks reality hit and even though he doesn't want to be lonely he can't go join the farm
Crooks is isolated because he’s a black man that has a crooked back and that doesn’t have that much rights so he will spend most of his time in the bunkhouse reading books. Steinbeck used crooks in this story because so they can show that African Americans are lonely.
His room in the barn is described to portray a dark, bitter feel. Separate from the men’s bunkhouse, he works and lives in the barn’s stables in the presence of the horses. At the beginning of chapter four, Steinbeck describes Crooks’ room as a bunk filled with straw, with exposed parts of the room that are old and broken. His personal belongings are scattered on the untidy floor, creating a careless atmosphere (66). Although he gets to live alone in peace, his peace has turned into the most uncomfortable solitude that has had a heavy weight on him.
Crooks isn’t allowed to sleep in the bunkhouse or play cards with the white men. He gets lonely and resentful from having to stay in the barn all the time. When he is talking to Lennie, he says, “‘S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse or play rummy
adding to that, Crooks didn't have any friends. Moreover, Crooks had no friends, no one to play with, Crooks did his work around the farm and once he was finished he would go back into his room, racism was towards him since he was the only black person at the Bunk. In addition, Lennie and Crooks become friends, when most of the guys were out to town, Lennie went into crooks is room uninvited, Crooks thought about kicking him out but the didn’t because he hadn't had any company for a long time now(). Crooks is lonely and he is the only black men at the Bunkhouse he is totally an
At the time, people are racist, and make him sleep in the barn. However, he has come up with some sort of defense mechanism. Lennie asks why Crooks isn't wanted, and Crooks responds “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I’m black. They say I stink.
Thus he is stuck in a ugly circle of lonely isolation. Candy also experiences internal conflicts. He struggles with self worth similar to Crooks. In Chapter 3 of the novella Candy’s dog and only companion was shot due to the fact that he was quite old and no longer considered valuable by the group. Candy was very distraught about the death of his only friend and said “You seen what they done to my dog tonight?
When Candy tells George about how the boss was acting toward Crooks when he found out that George and Lennie weren't there in the morning, he says “The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that” (20). Crooks doesn’t do anything or show that he cares when he is getting punished even when the reason he is getting punished has nothing to do with him. Crooks is afraid of saying anything against the boss, so the punishment will not get worse and he is able to keep his job. He has worked on the ranch for a few years and he is probably used to this treatment and it happens very often, so he knows the best thing to do is to pretend like he doesn’t care.
Crooks is very lonely and solitude for being alone every day. As a result, he wants to have friends who he can communicate with. No one has come into his room except for Slim and the boss, so when Lennie and Candy come, it is difficult for Crooks to “conceal his pleasure with anger” (75). Although he wants to express anger about people coming into his room, inside he is happy about it and enjoys it. This instability and loneliness that he has leads him to say how he could work for George, Lennie, and Candy on their farm.
Crooks is a character that is very overlooked in the novella. The book took place a little after the American Civil War, and lots of these vets are still alive and well. So, the basis of racism is still prominent around the nation and especially in the vast regions of the farming lands. Which keeps Crooks contempt from reaching his dreams in life because of his race. For example he says, "S'pose you didn't have nobody.
Because crooks was black he was isolated and not allowed to near the other men. Lennie asks, “ Why ain’t you wanted… Cause I’m black” (Steinbeck 68). Crooks at first did not want Lennie entering his room but realizes Lennie is different and is not racist. Usually Crooks would tell people that they have not right coming into his room. He uses his isolation as a way to hide from everyone and get privacy.
Even though Crooks has treated brutally on the ranch, he is willing to be the help of the land Lennie, George, and Candy are purchasing, just as long as he gets the opportunity to pursue his dream, hanging with white people and having fun playing games with them. Crooks has known Candy for a while, and now a little about Lennie, so Crooks trusts that the neither of them will turn him down and kick him out. Crooks’ confidence in his dream being pursued is now at a higher substantial thanks to trust of new
He feels brought down and dehumanized. After Curley’s wife left, Candy tells Crooks that she shouldn’t have said those things. Crooks says, “it wasn’t nothing…you guys comin’ in an’ settin made me forget. What she says is true” (82). This shows that Crooks knows that even though he thought he could get a place with the other guys, he knows is would never happen, because he is black and he will always be treated
Lennie asked Crooks “Why Ain’t you wanted?” Crooks replied “Cause I’m black” he also told Lennie, “I tell ya a guy gets lonely and he gets sick.” The explanation supports the fact that Crooks was plagued by loneliness and alienation and he wanted
Within the novel Crooks deals with loneliness, because he is segregated by his skin color. “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black... A guy goes nuts when he ain’t got nobody” (72). Crooks is black, and in
Crooks feels discriminated against and is defensive and angry with the other men for not including him. Another quote which displays Crooks's loneliness is, "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How'd you like that? Spose You had to sit out here an read books.