Of Mice And Men Crooks Friendship Analysis

Close friendships are something everyone has at one point in their lifetime. Friends understand and care for one another and create and sense of purpose in life. John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men takes the readers back to an era called the Great Depression in the 1930s on a California ranch. It tells the story of two men with different personalities that work and travel together hoping to achieve their dreams for the future. George and Lennie, the main characters of the novel share a genuine friendship that no one seems to understand. In contrast, Crooks, a black stable buck, is segregated from the other men. Similar to Crooks, no one wants to speak to Curley's wife because she is described as "jail bait"(32) to the men and there is no

First off, Crooks is a black stable buck that is isolated from the men which happens to make him a mean and unsympathetic man. Lennie enters the barn to see his puppy and decides to strike a conversation with Crooks. Crooks sees that Lennie isn't the smartest guy and decides to play around and make him concerned about George by saying " Le's say he wants to come back and can't. S'pose he gets killed or hurt so he can't come back"(71). Seeing that Crooks is displayed as a hostile guy and is not welcomed in the barn, he keeps to himself. Crooks has been alone for so long that when Lennie comes into his room to talk to him, he doesn’t know how to deal with someone trying to be nice to him. In addition, Crooks is a bookworm. He has lots of books and enjoys studying law, as that is the only thing he is able to do on the ranch since no one will speak to him. When Lennie is in Crooks' room in the barn, Crooks expresses himself saying "S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books... Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody... I'll tell ya a guy gets lonely an' he gets sick" (72). Crooks says it himself that books is not a substitute for friends. It is obvious that he rather be out playing cards in the bunkhouse with the men instead of sitting in his room all day feeling lonely and

Being the only woman on the ranch, Curley's wife is as lonely as some of the other men. Since she is the boss' son's wife she tries to use her power against the men. When the men go out to the whorehouse, but Lennie, Crooks, and Candy stay behind, she enters Crooks' room without invitation and says "They left all the weak ones here"(77). She also decides to pick on the weaker man (Crooks) and threaten his life by snapping "I can get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny"(80). This proves that Curley's wife is weak and she is upset that the men won't talk to her. She uses her power against them to hide the fact that she is lonely and insecure. Secondly, Curley's wife sees herself as a tease to the other men although they want nothing to do with her. She uses her pretty face of makeup, nice body, and bouncy hair to show off to them. When she enters the barnhouse, Lennie is fascinated by her. Lennie smiled admiringly "Gosh, she was so purty". George immediately warned him "Don’t you even take a look at that bitch... I never seen a jail bait worse than her"(32). Curley's wife uses her pretty face and nice body to get attention from the men so that will talk to her. This does not work as the men only see her as danger since she is married to Curley. Lastly, Curley's wife always tries to find a way to talk to the men. Whenever the men are