Of Mice and Men :: essays research papers

In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he uses Crooks to express loneliness because his character is a perfect example of how it was to be a black man. Steinbeck uses Crooks to show his readers what it was like to be lonely. Crooks is the loneliest in the novel because he has no one to talk and he is black.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Crooks was introduced to the novel as just a black stable buck. Before his character appeared, the men talked about him as if he were a horse, and they made fun of him because he walked with a limp. He had a limp because he was kicked in the spine by a horse once. When he finally showed up, it was just to receive an order, and the way he did it seemed like he was a frightened animal, terrified of his owner’s whip. He had no one to talk to, no one to keep him company and no one to treat him like he was important. In chapter 4, Lennie goes into Crooks’ room and they start talking about being lonely. Crooks says to Lennie †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody ___ to be near him.’ He wined, ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you’†(72). This shows you how lonely Crooks gets all by himself with nothing to do but re ad. Even though it seems like he is talking about any guy that is lonely, he is expressing what he feels inside. That is one of the many examples that shows how Crooks feels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the nineteen thirties, the Great Depression occurred. It was a time when money was scarce, lots of people lost their jobs and became poor, and sometimes homeless. Crooks did hard labor and obeyed every command given by the boss. If he lost his job, he would have no where to go. No one would hire anybody because of the money problem in that time, and if they did, it wouldn’t be a black man, let alone, a crippled black man. So Crooks was basically stuck in the same place for awhile, and he was without anybody to talk to. At least being a stable buck he had people around him most of the time. In chapter 4, Crooks and Lennie have a conversation about Crooks being a black.