Comparing Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Crooks (named crooks after being kicked in the back by a horse) is a very controversial character as he is the only black member of the farm and doesn’t actually feature to much in the book. When he is in it though most of what we find out is when Lenny walks into his room. From the start its clear that crooks is a very abused and defensive because he says “You got no right to come in my room” as soon as he notices Lennie stood in his room even though Lennie doesn’t really see any difference between skin colour and doesn’t understand why this is happening. Most of what can be known about Crooks is from the items in his room. His room is actually connected to the barn showing they do not value him as a person but only as a stable buck. The only door to get out goes to the barn showing they don’t really want him to have contact with the other farm members. His bed is nothing but straw, thus showing he is valued as an animal because that is how the animals would have slept. He owns a copy of the Californian civil code

Both have very little parts but they are very important to the story. They both have a similar goal which is to have companionship but both struggle to find it as they would both be regarded as inferior at the time. Crooks tries to find companionship by not really bothering people because he thinks he will struggle because he’s black but you can tell he does want companionship when he asks Lennie “s’pose George don’t come back no more” I think he’s trying to get Lennie to stop with him if something happens to George. Curleys wife try’s to gain companionship by being very flirty although when she has an opportunity to talk to Lennie, Crooks or Candy, all of which could be discriminated against, she just pushes them aside in the sense of she insults