Explore the Ways That Steinbeck Presents the Contrast in Crooks’ Behaviour in Chapter 4 of ‘of Mice and Men’

311 Words2 Pages
There are many ways to represent someone’s inner feelings and dual behavioural traits that originate from psychological issues such as isolation and disempowerment as seen during the great depression, especially on the African-American population that were deprived of community. ‘Of Mice and Men’ which is set during the 1940s, has a huge representation of this through the character Crooks’, the contrast in himself is depicted through many methods such as the use of language, structure, dialogue, context that can be picked from between the lines and imagery found in descriptions of the surroundings. We don’t really find out a lot about Crooks’ until we enter his room, to this point we only know him as the ‘stable buck’ that is a ‘nigga’ with a ‘crooked’ back. This order suggests that he could be one of the ‘guys’ like he wishes to be but he cannot due to his skin colour, which downgrades his status. On top of this he is almost imprisoned by his ‘crooked’ back even though his isolation gives him the freedom to ‘leave his things about’ and to have personal space. This gives him power which he craves so much and is jealous of. This is the place where he feels he has power as opposed to when he exits it. In the other chapter Crooks opened the door ‘quietly’ and only put in his ‘lean negro head’. He is extremely polite, unlike the way he lashes out at Lennie shouting he’s ‘got a right to a light’. There are other examples of when structure plays a part in revealing the dichotomy between the perceptions we have. The contrast between meeting him through other characters and the way he behaves toward them and the way he handles Lennie’s invasion are two very different perceptions. Isolation- how he acts differently…. Why he does this… revealed by

More about Explore the Ways That Steinbeck Presents the Contrast in Crooks’ Behaviour in Chapter 4 of ‘of Mice and Men’

Open Document