Crooks and Curley’s wife are both main characters in the story. Although they both repel each other's characters, both of them highlight the prejudice which Black people and Women suffer in the 1930’s society. During the 1930’s, black people from the south were excluded from white people activities, which then forced them to leave and travel north and west in hopes of a better life. In the same time period,women still faced discrimination in workplaces, households and suffered in the great depression. Steinbeck uses this era of isolation to illustrate the segregated society which the characters live in, and allude their personality to racial attitudes and
In the 1930s, African Americans were casted away from all white people, leading them to loneliness. This topic is explored in John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. The story takes place in California during the 1930s, a time when black people were hated by the majority of white people. Crooks, a black ranch worker lives in his own bunkhouse because most of the white ranch workers do not want to live with a black ranch worker. Most ranch workers dislike Crooks, and Crooks despises all of the ranch workers.
John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, depicts race as a critical factor to the dominance of people during this time period. Racism is presented most evidently in chapter four by the treatment of Crooks, the stable buck. Crook’s and his fellow workers discussed ambitions in his quarters, which happened to be separate from the others clearly due to his skin tone. As the men conversed topics regarding the near future, Curley’s wife abruptly barged into the area searching for her husband. Noting the peril with which Curley’s wife is associated with,
Crooks and Curley’s Wife represent the people who are not white and male. Crooks often is addressed by a derogatory name as well as his back disability, “Crooks”. He is isolated from the other men and the loneliness he has been forced to live with has made him come across as rude and stoic, this is particularly emphasised when Lennie tries to talk to Crooks, “Crooks said sharply, ‘You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.’
For example, when Crooks, a black migrant worker, stands up for himself, he is shot down by Curley’s wife as she says “Well, you keep your place then, N****r. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (Steinbeck 81). When Crooks tries to be seen as an individual with his own authority, he is placed down. Curley’s wife sees him as inferior to herself and so do other characters in the novella. This places more emphasis on the hardships migrant workers face, constantly being treated like nothing.
Lennie walks into Crooks’ room wonders why Crooks isn’t playing cards with the others and Crooks explains why he’s not wanted. Stenbecks writes, “...ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse… cause I’m black… They say I stink” (Steinbeck 68). This proves Crooks becomes reconciled to discrimination by his peers because of his own race. Back then, men and women in color were mistreated so Steinbeck is giving a good idea on how people abused the basic human rights to hurt others physically and mentally.
Sydney Votino Mrs. Daquelente English 2 12 May 2023 Formal Outline: Cause-and-Effect Essay Thesis: Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks are characters from John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men who struggles with mental issues, being used, and racism leading to broken dreams that negatively impacted their lives. Body Topic A: To begin, Lennie’s experience with mental issues ruined his dream and drastically changed his hopes for the future. Direct Quote
Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice. Crooks being an African-American on the ranch, full of whites, struggles racially which causes his withdrawal from the society. Crooks explains to Lennie his when he’s accompanied by him “ A guy goes nuts if he ain 't got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is long’s
Contrasting Crooks’ somber attitude with Lennie's undying innocence makes it clear where Steinbeck stands on the matter. For example, Crooks is temporarily seduced by the idea of Lennie and George’s farm, but is almost immediately brought down by reality, and Curley’s wife. She brings him back to the reality of a black man at the time, saying: "Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny" (39). After this event occurs, Crooks disregards his rare idealism, saying that he “wouldn’ want to go no place like that” (41).
Since Curley's wife never received a letter back from the movie director who promised her a role in Hollywood. However that barrier isn’t changeable, and the only barrier she has is her inability to move on from her dead dream. Crooks is in a similar position to Curly wife. He is crippled which hinders is working ability ,and the color of his skin hinders his ability to be hired. Since this book takes place in 1937, the people living in this time are racist to people of color.
While Crooks, a victim of racial prejudice, expresses his isolation openly, he also socializes with other workers on the job and while playing horseshoes with them. Curley’s wife, on the other hand, cannot talk to anyone without suffering the consequences of a jealous husband: “ I get so lonely,’ she said. “you can talk to people , but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
Crooks is excluded and abused, because he is African American. Candy is continuously rejected, and made to feel helpless and unworthy, because he is old and only has one hand. These traits have singled out Crook and Candy, and left them in a state of hopelessness and misery. The awful way that these characters are treated on the ranch embody how those who are different are treated in a uniformitarian society. Steinbeck exposes the horror of a exclusive society through the heartbreak that his characters go through.
Curley’s married woman is the lone adult females at the spread in Of Mice and Men. She is by and large portrayed as a immature. lonely. bored and infantile miss. “Baloney! ” is her ‘word. ’
Aforementioned, Curley 's wife represents discrimination towards women, she is constantly looked down upon and isn 't treated with respect. However, when she is talking to Crooks, “‘Well, you keep your place then, n*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain 't even funny,’”(OMAM 81). Crooks and Curley 's wife go through something similar. They are both discriminated based on a difference that the other men on the farm don’t have.
The men treat Curley’s wife the same way they treat Crooks, but they treat her this way because she is a women. Due to the fact that Crooks is black, the other guys exclude him from many things. Crooks is a perfect example of how racism can cause loneliness.
The Great Depression was very crucial in history with some of its major events: The Stock Market Crash of 1929, and the Dustbowl of 1934 which caused many droughts and affected farms causing food shortage and major migration. Therefore, it seized about 3.2 million farmers to lose their livelyhoods and become known as migrant workers.. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men it portrays the hardships of the depression and how it affected the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife. In this piece, Crooks is darker skinned, so he has to be separated from the others in his own room. Candy is an old man and has lost family, friends(his dog), and is working as a Swamper .