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Theme Of Racial Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

882 Words4 Pages

Of Mice and Men
In the novel Of Mice and Men Crooks’ racial segregation is associated with the aspiration of brotherhood and solitude on the farm. Throughout the story, Steinbeck affiliates most of the themes in the story with the idea of society continuously rejecting different people. As the story progresses, Steinbeck displays the concept of going mentally insane because of the lack of companionship. John Steinbeck utilizes racial discrimination to reveal the themes of friendship and desolation through the character Crooks.
In the novel Of Mice and Men the author, John Steinbeck never shows bias towards racial segregation; however he does integrate scenarios within the book that involve prejudice towards African Americans. As stated in …show more content…

Steinbeck uses the theme of loneliness as a lifestyle, on the ranch, not just a characteristic of one person. As stated in Novels for Students, this story illustrates how “loneliness is an essential part of humanity’s nature.” The racial prejudice of the outsider Crooks causes him to be in a reclusive state throughout the entire novel. The racial segregation of Crooks’s causes the others on the farm to be negligent towards his existence, which puts him in a constant state of comfortless seclusion. Crooks understands the meaning of loneliness as he longs for the companionship of another, as he whimpers, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody” (69). According to San Jose State University, the bunkhouse of the white migrant workers serves, “as symbol of elite masculinity,” unlike the barn Crooks is forced to live in, which, “demonstrates [Crooks’s] society’s view of African Americans as subhuman.” Others on the farm view Crooks as a useless, bitter stable buck, who has no one as he is excluded from everything because of the color of his skin. Crooks, “Sits alone out [in the barn] at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff” (69). The anguish felt by Crooks devours him, because he knows he will never have what he truly desires, which is the company of another. Crooks is considered by most to be the most lonesome character on the ranch, according to Novels for Students, as he lives in a state of, “Distrust [which] is the quality of the modern world in which people live in alienation from one another.”
In Of Mice and Men Crooks’ segregation causes his yearning for companionship as he is in a state of discomforting isolation. Crooks claims “A guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick”(69). Crooks understands this form of loneliness because he is racially segregated and alienated from the others. Steinbeck uses Crooks to exemplify racial discrimination in the 1930s, and how it affected

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