Similarities Between Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

During the Great Depression society thought of women, the disabled, and black people as secondary to white men. They were not respected or deemed worth as much; and so they were not paid attention to nor listened to. “Of Mice and Men” tells the story of a disabled man and his responsible companion during the Great Depression as they work on a ranch for less than a week. In that short period of time, however, they meet many complex people, some of which are lonely even when they are together. In “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck the characters Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy were alienated because of their race, gender, and disability, respectively.

Crooks seen as inferior because of his race. He already is considered different from the rest of the farmhands, and not in a good way. He is secluded in his own room, sleeping with the animals where he is both being isolated and demeaned at the same time. He has had a back injury after working with the horses as a stable buck. When he is alone in his private room, he soothes his back aches with a bottle of liniment. He chooses to treat the damage in the company of only himself, because his back problems are seen as an embarrassing weakness on top of his race. When Lenny appeared in his doorway to see the puppy “Crooks did not see

Each individual’s survival is so dependent on everyone else that if they were to leave or become isolated from the group they may not live. This could be taken as a metaphor for society in of Mice and Men, having each individual human living and socializing with others, but those who do not fit in, are different, or outstep their imposed codes of behavior (such as Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy) become isolated and not welcomed to be with others. Thus, they do not thrive in the way they