Of Mice And Men Crooks Discrimination

The Book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck was written in the late 1930s. A time period in which racism and sexism were acceptable. These themes are represented in this book by the characters of Crooks and Curley’s wife. They were both victims of this discrimination, which could give the reader historical context.
Crooks suffered discrimination through racism. Because of his skin color, he couldn’t live with the others."Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “ Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play Because I’m black”(Steinbeck 67) his skin color forced him to live in the barn alone. Although Crooks is the only one that has his place the way he complains about not being able to play cards suggests that he would prefer being with the other guys.
Also, another form of discrimination Crooks suffered was being called racial slurs. Throughout the book, he is called multiple times racial slurs. "Ya see the stable buck's a nigger." "Nigger, huh"...They let the nigger come in that night. Little skinner name Smitty took after the nigger."(Steinbeck 20-21) Throughout this quote and the rest of the book, we see how they refer to crooks in racial ways without hesitation, which supports the fact that they don't care about him or his feelings just because of the color of his skin.

An example of this is that we never get to learn her name, she is always referred to as Curley's wife. Not only was her name never revealed, but she was also frequently sexualized."The Swamper stood up from his box. "know what I think?" George did not answer. "Well, I think Curley's married . . . a tart."(Steinbeck 28) In this quote, they call Curley's wife a "tart" which means a prostitute sexualizing her. They come to this conclusion just because they say she is giving everyone "the eye" with no solid evidence. It shows how the workers view Curley's wife as something only related to sexual