How Does Steinbeck Present and Develop the Theme of Exclusion in 'of Mice and Men'?

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How does Steinbeck present and develop the theme of exclusion in 'Of Mice and Men'? In the novel, there's a strong link to the theme of exclusion within the characters. Steinbeck presents this by describing the character in a certain way to make the reader aware of the social ranking and judgement, and does this by also giving the reader of how characters refer to each other and why this may portray exclusion and how. An example of a character which is highly excluded and isolated in the novel is Crooks, the stable buck. We know that this character is excluded from the minute that he's introduced to the reader. For example, in page 21, exclusion of this character is first presented when Candy says "the stable buck's a nigger". Using the term 'nigger' to describe the character tells us that there's a strong racial exclusion and Crooks isn't of a high social ranking. Steinbeck later then develops the exclusion of this character when Candy also says "the boss give him hell when he's mad". This just tells us that The Boss, who's a character of high register and of a much higher social ranking excludes Crooks and gives him 'hell'. By that, Steinbeck might mean that the Boss takes his anger out on Crooks, and because of his low status due to his race, he can be treated in whichever way by those who are of a higher status and have more power. This also tells us that the Boss has a lot more power than Crooks and that's the reason why he can 'give him hell'. In my opinion, Crooks has the lowest social ranking and the most negative judgements than all of the other characters who are excluded as even Candy refers to him as simply just a 'nigger' which a highly offensive term to use nowadays, which goes on to say that during the time Steinbeck wrote the novel, referring to someone as a 'nigger' wasn't classified as big of a deal as it would be if it happened now, and
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