Candy explains this by saying that Curly is “like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys…he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy,” (Steinbeck, Page 26). He is unable to seek reassurance from the other men on the ranch because they are, in a way, afraid of him because of the power he holds over them by being the boss’s son. Curly is lonely as he cannot socialize with the men in a carefree way, nor can he be entirely comfortable with his wife, who was never truly in love with him. However, the reader is never asked to sympathize with Curly, nor does the author ever portray his disappointment in a straightforward way, opting instead to make him angry and confrontational to show that
George is the dominant male in the relationship , because of Lennie’s disability it causes they both very much trouble back in Weed and on the ranch they arrive too after escaping. Also Lennie’s disability causes himself to be put aside from others on big events. While all the other ranch hands go to town, Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s Wife are left behind. They’re left behind because to all the other strong and healthy men they’re outsiders. Lennie is considered as an outsider because of his mental disability.
A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" Crooks the black stable buck said this quote. In my opinion I would say that crooks would be one of the loneliest characters in the novel. Crooks has to go through life on the ranch without any real friends and no one to talk to.
He has his own room in the barn because he is prohibited from sharing a room with the white men. Candy, looking in awe at Crooks’ room, says “Must be nice to have a room all to yourself”’ Crooks answers with “And a manure pile under the window, Sure it’s swell” (82). This separation makes Crooks more isolated than any other characters because of his lack of human interaction, which causes him extreme loneliness. “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick” (80). This also causes him extreme loneliness.
Crooks’s little dream of the farm is shattered by Curley’s wife’s nasty comments, putting the black man right into his "place" as inferior to a white woman, somebody already seen as being inferior to everyone else on the ranch to begin with. Crooks refuses to say Curley’s wife is wrong, he accepts the fact that he lives with ever-present racial discrimination, and says he had "forgotten himself" because they’d treated him so well. Crooks self-opinion isn’t based on what he believes he’s worth, but on knowing that no matter how he feels, others around him will always value him as less. As quickly as he got excited about the
Steinbeck describes Crooks’ living condition to be, “For being alone…Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men” (67). Crooks’ deformed back deprive him of working with the other men, thus denying him an opportunity for personal contact with them. Next, Crooks becomes accustomed to seclusion and begins to be suspicious of any man who tries to make friends with him. Crooks cannot go in the bunkhouse of the white ranch hands; therefore, he turns Lennie away from his own place. His longing for company wins over and he then invites Lennie to accompany him (68).
Crooks notes- For Controlled Assesment- 21st Feb 2012- Of Mice and Men · He has seen many men come and go, all dreaming of buying a piece of land, but is now cynical, as no one has ever achieved it. · He is always called the 'nigger' by the men, which shows how racism is taken for granted. The men don't mean to insult Crooks every time they call him this, but they never think to use his name. · This shows signs of isolation. He feels isolated and bitter.
In Of Mice and Men, racism is displayed upon the negro on the farm. Within the farm it’s basically segregated. Crooks, the negro, is isolated on from the other men on the farm, with his own room and no one to socialize too. Loneliness haunts Crooks deep inside. As the novel goes on we see that Crooks accepts things the way they overall are.
It shows Slim as a sort of true king with power of knowledge and understanding but being trapped in the society all the same. When George and Lennie arrive together at the bunkhouse people think it is strange for men to travel together. This shows that society is use to people travelling alone. So through Slim, Steinbeck uses him as a way of criticising society. With all of Slim's God-like features it is hard for us to understand why he is there at the ranch.
This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” (68) He is acting this way because this is the way that everybody else treats him. Crooks is secluded to a small room of his own and he never is allowed to go to the barn and play with the other guys. The author’s characterization of Crooks is also negative. He calls him a nigger and says he doesn’t mind getting hell from the others.