Then Steinbeck opened the character up by talking him to Lenny. Crooks felt as if he could be totally open with Lenny because Lenny couldn’t properly follow track of the conversation and wouldn’t tell anyone else what he has said. This showed the readers the suffering that black people suffered. For example Crooks says to Lenny “Spose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black.” This shows the social outcast that black people were. By including this character, John Steinbeck was protesting that treating black people as social outcasts and as second class was not fair.
Crooks the Negro stable-buck experiences isolation because the society in which he lives is racist. He is segregated and ostracised because of his race and lives on his own, in a little shed off the side of the barn with nothing more than his books, the horses and himself for company. He states that “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,” and “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse...they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black.” This demonstrates that Crooks suffers from rejection from others and therefore puts his scale of aloneness at a fair greater level than Curley’s wife. Candy the crippled ranch hand, suffers from an extreme lack of interaction with other people.
Sadly for crooks there’s only one reason he’s left out, "Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m Black. They say I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me!" (Steinbeck 75).
But, Sonny’s brother is the one that went through the major change. He started out not really knowing anything about his brother’s new life. He had a kind of negative outlook about everything going on. He even thought that his brother’s music dreams were a little out there. He didn’t really have any understanding on Sonny.
He later learns Lennie is a nice guy. Crooks isn't fond of the workers because they never invite him to play cards, because he's black and because they say he stinks. So Crooks assumes that since Lennie is a worker he's wants something from him, when in fact Lennie is only trying to see his puppy and later make a new friend. Crooks opinion of Lennie changes when they start talking. They start talking in a friendly manner and have a normal conversation.
People will always do what they want to do trying not to get caught. In the book the defense attorneys were not fair with Jefferson’s trial and they were not nice either by considering him a hog. In trials in the society today people get chances and say on what they did or didn’t do to prove how they’re not guilty. In the novel an innocent black man was not treated with respect. Jefferson was treated as a poor lowlife creature.
The workers also segregate Crooks from their activities and game. Crooks relates that, “They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink,” (75). Even when the men let Crooks join them while playing horseshoes, they only see Crooks as something to beat, not as another fellow player. Slim is the only person other than Lennie to treat Crooks as an equal.
In doing so, we see how essential not only it is for Lennie to gain another friend in times of loneliness, but for Crooks as well. Being secluded from companionship like Crooks is, he becomes dependent on Lennie for moments like those to remind him that he is still a human being. Lennie, like George, also doesn’t want to risk losing a friend over something minor. When Lennie wanted some ketchup and he saw that he made George angry by continuously asking for what they don’t have, he immediately apologized and said “I wouldn’t eat no ketchup, George. I’d leave it all for you.
The writer portrays him to be lonely through the quote “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black” as he is segregated from rest of the ranch men. The quote suggests that he can’t go to the bunk house and do activities that other men do. The author uses colloquial language in this quote to show that all the ranch men are equal, which is in contrast with racism faced by Crook’s, Through the word “you” the author is indirectly involving the readers so that they could understand Crook’s feelings. Steinbeck also shows loneliness in crooks life by describing his possessions and his room. The quote “ And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, crooks could leave his things about...and he had accumulated more possession than he could carry on his back” signifies the fact that he was completely lonely.
Crook works on a farm, he is quite intelligent and he can read. He also owns lots of books, and because he has his own room becomes very lonely. The other men won’t enter his room because he is black. Crook has a very distinctive crippled back which is where he gets his nick name Crook from referring to his crooked back and his character is seen as a lonely, crippled, black man. During the story his loneliness becomes obvious and he wants a close friend and is jealous of the relationship between George and Lennie and says to Lennie when George is out “S’pose he (George) gets hurt so he can’t come back”, maybe hoping if this is true he could be Lennie’s close friend.