I tell ya," he cried, "I'll tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" (Steinbeck 72). Crooks does not have anyone to talk to, this shows another side of him. While he talks about men in general feeling lonely, he really is talking about the way he feels. Crooks is mostly affected because he is shut down from activities and the workers in the ranch mistreat him because he is black. While talking to Candy he says, ".
How does Steinbeck use characters and events, to show the social tensions and problems in real California at the time the novel is set? “I’m black, they say I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me.” This quote highlights two of the main issues involved in ‘Of Mice and Men,’ that of inequality and racism. Early on in the book we see great prejudice against the stable buck because he is black, he is labelled a “nigger” and is disregarded by other white workers. There are also many other important issues and problems brought up in the book that were linked directly to the real life social problems in rural California which Steinbeck brings to life in a variety of techniques and language styles.
The other men would not allow him to use his feet due to Crooks’ back but thought it perfectly fine to be fighting him. When Crooks comes into the novel he is described as a “lean negro head, lined with pain,” this is important because it’s the introduction of the many pains which Crooks has. Crooks is both in emotional and physical pain. The emotional pain which Crooks carries with him is due to his loneliness; his isolation from man is causing him to go mad, “guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody”. In isolation from the other men Crooks begins to doubt what he sees.
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.
Crooks, named for his crooked back, is one of the most vulnerable characters on the ranch, mostly due to his race combined with general racist attitudes at the time. He lives by himself because he is the only black man on the ranch, and he has been so beaten down by loneliness and prejudicial treatment of that he is now suspicious of any kindness he receives. Crooks is painfully aware that his skin color is all that keeps him separate in this culture. This outsider status causes him to lament his loneliness, but he also delights in seeing the loneliness of others, perhaps because misery loves company. When Lennie arrives at his room, he turns him away, hoping to prove a point that if he, as a black man, is not allowed in white men’s houses, then whites are not allowed in his, but his desire for company ultimately wins out and he invites Lennie to sit with him.
Crooks, a black stable-hand, is segregated because of the pigment of his skin. Steinbeck depicts discrimination through Crooks’ isolation from other men, his desire for friendship, and his way of turning his vulnerability into a weapon. First, Steinbeck demonstrates Crooks’ loneliness through his separation from the other men on the ranch. Initially, the other ranch hands discriminate Crooks because of his disability that sets him apart from them. 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).
The theme of racism is expressed throughout the book by the black character, Crooks. The way the characters treat Crooks in the book shows the racism of the characters and how they act around Crooks. One instance is when Lennie decides to go visit Crooks because his light is on. Crooks acts extremely bitter towards Lennie by saying “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room.
Everyone on the ranch is lonely; George says ranch guys ‘are the loneliest in the world.’ Crooks says ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long as he’s with you.’ This implies that everyone in the ranch is lonely since all the bunk house men are single so they have no one to comfort them. They have no family to go to or to speak to, they have nothing to look forward to except work for the rest of their lives. George even plays solitaire which is a one player game which implies that even though he has Lennie he still feels alone since Lennie is so immature that he cannot speak to him about the real problems he has. He could feel like he’s in unequal marriage, where George has all the responsibilities.
As the novel goes on we see that Crooks accepts things the way they overall are. Crooks doesn’t talk to the other men and they don’t talk to him. This causes the greatest amount of loneliness in Crooks out of all the characters. When Crooks states “I tell ya a guy get to lonely an he gets sick” ( Steinbeck; 73). This quote shows that rejection can cause most people to become crazy, as it did to Crooks.
to criticize the radicalism. Hughes tried to enlighten the poor black men likewise Mrs. Jones would teach Roger “right from wrong” in this novel. When this novel was written in 1959, the problems of the poor black men were very serious in a racial society. Although they are eager to have the American Dream, it was frustrated by racial discrimination. As the result, the poverty was inherited to next generation repeatedly.