In this passage he seems to be quite a self-standing person because he owns a copy of the California civil code for 1905 so he knows what rights he has out of the few that black people had and when Lennie came into his room he was really defensive over his rights of having his room and that no one else had a right to come in accept him. He also seems proud of himself because the passage mentions that he keeps his room was “swept” and “fairly neat” he has a few shelf and pegs to place his things upon. He the outcast on the ranch because the passage says that he demands that people keep their distance and it says that he’s an “aloof” and this could be due to him being black and mistreated or that his crippled back has made him miserable and he doesn’t want anyone to bother him while he’s disabled. Crooks’ meagre yellow light could suggest that he has no/little hope for things because a light symbolises hope but the light wasn’t bright so that means there was little hope for him and lack in hope could be caused by his sickness of loneliness and emotional and physical pain. Steinbeck
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.
The room is made out to be a privilege because it keeps him closer to the horses, but in fact it is really because the other hands do not want him sharing a bunk house with them. As a result of this prejudice Crooks has become bitter and very lonely. When Lennie comes to pet puppies, not even knowing that Crooks’ room is ‘out of bounds’ he tries to enter it; Crooks instantly becomes uncivil “I ain’t wanted in the bunk room and you ain’t wanted in my room”(Steinbeck 68). Lennie with his childish innocence is completely without prejudice “Why ain’t you wanted” (Steinbeck 68). Crooks retaliates with this: “Cause I’m black, they play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black.
From this we are encouraged to look outside the edge of mainstream society and see a wider humanity, rather then the dominant class. We are also told about his clean well manicured hands and conservative sharp suits. From this infomation we are able to see that he can infact afford the book, yet for some reason chooses not to purchase it. At this point Winton is encouraging the reader to look deeper into the story and get a feel for the characters surroundings. It then becomes easy for the reader to understand why the unnamed man chooses to read in the store, because despite all Fat Maz's soul searching and her father's bad temper, the newsagency is actually a very place with a homey feel.
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.
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’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
However Candy justifies his Bosses actions as he sees nothing wrong or immoral in them. By doing this Steinbeck is showing the reader that the society was used to this kind of treatment and that it was used towards black people on everyday life bases. This shows us that black people’s rights were very limited and that they were not able to stand up for their beliefs and they accepted the racism they had to live with. Secondly we are told about Crooks accommodation, and the way he had been isolated from the rest of the society due to the fact that he is not a white resident. “A little shed that leaned of the wall of the barn” the use of word “shed” shows the reader that he is not allowed to live in the bunk house with the rest of the ranch workers, and that he has been isolated from any companionship, this brings up the theme of loneliness and the desire of companionship and friendship.
However Candy does describe Crooks as a “nice fella”. From Candy we also learn that Crooks has his own room, separate from the bunkhouses. We later learn that he is not allowed into the bunkhouses because of the colour of his skin. We are told of an incident at Christmas where a “little skinner name of Smitty” takes after Crooks. The other men would not allow him to use his feet due to Crooks’ back but thought it perfectly fine to be fighting him.
Red is the mediator or polemicist, meaning that he’s a smooth talker and debater. In Shawshank he’s know as the man that can get anything for you from the outside … for a price of course. He’s a crook with a good heart and somewhat good intentions, but he confides to the prison walls to blur the lines of reality outside in the real world. Inside the prison he has value to his name and his insecurities are concealed by the opaque violence, and hard stance of Shawshank’s environment. Hope motivates him, but he does anything in his will to cloak that fact.