CROOKS
By Ben Purrington & Lewis Moore
Key things that Crooks says
Crooks does not say much in the book ‘of mice and men’. When he does he is very insulting in his
language. For example when Lennie comes into his room all of crooks emotions come out at once
because he feels he has power and authority over Lennie that he had never had before. You got no right
to come in my room. “This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” Crooks snaps at
Lennie because he knows Lennie does not stick up for himself without George. Crooks feels he has more
power on the ranch than Lennie and therefore can tell him what to do. Crooks is also rude to Curley’s
wife when asking her to leave his room soon after being rude to Lennie because he thinks he has power
that he actually doesn’t and this backfires on him. “You ain’t wanted here. We told you you ain’t. An’ I tell
ya, you got floozy idears about what us guys amount to. You ain’t got sense enough in that chicken head
to even see that we ain’t stiffs.” This quote shows how angry crooks gets and is acting way above his
status insulting his bosses sons wife.
The significance of his name
The fact that Crooks has a nickname shows that he has established some form of relationship with the
other workers on the ranch. Some workers have respect for Crooks like George, Lennie and especially
Slim, ‘Oh! Hello Crooks. What’s the matter?’. Slim calls Crooks by his nickname which shows his respect
and the others follow Slim because his word is like gods. However, the others refer to him as ‘nigger’ or
‘stable-buck’. The nickname ‘Crooks’ is not a very nice nickname but it makes sense as it comes from the
fact he has a crooked back.
Their dream
Crooks was involved in the dream with Lennie and George.
This came about when Lennie went into his room and they
were discussing the dream. Crooks later pulls out of the
dream when he realises the realities of his life that he is black
and would not be able to achieve this. He pulls out because he
had been shown up by Curley’s wife and this showed he had
no authority.
Key events that Crooks is involved in
Crooks does not have much to do in the book but his
character is very important. The key event in the past was
that he was kicked in the back by a horse that crippled him.
Now he is just racially abused all of the time and he is
excluded from almost everything.
Appearance of Crooks
At first we do not get an in-depth description of Crooks. The only way we get an impression of what
crooks is like is when we look at the description given of his room. “Pegs hung from a broken harness”
and “strips of new leather” this gives us the thought that Crooks is constantly working and that his only
friends are the horses he looks after. “And scattered on the floor were a number of personal
possessions.” This shows us he is a very possessive character. “Crooks was a proud, aloof man.” This
shows us how even though there is a huge racial barrier for Crooks he is still proud about himself which
is the only way he can keep going. “He kept his distance and demanded others kept there’s.” This gives
us the thought he has quite a stoned looking face and wants to keep it down. One important fact about
Crook’s appearance is the fact that he is black. This causes all the attitudes from the other workers and
puts him in a position were others are better than him. His body has an unnatural bend to it because of
the fact he was kicked when usual. He has a crooked back. He has a very serous type look as his eyes sit
in the back of his head; he also has a leaned face with deep black wrinkles with thin, pain tightened lips.
Why Crooks is in the book
Crooks has been put in the book because he shows us the racial separation in the 1930’s. He is a fellow
outcast to Curley’s wife, Lennie and Candy. His presence shows us that black people around this era are
not respected and thought to be less important then the whites. The other workers are very racist and
this is shown throughout the book.
How Steinbeck portrays him
Steinbeck portrays Crooks as a normal black person
around these times. He does not portray him so we
feel sorry for him but because of the change in time
the book as been read (70 years later) we feel sorry
for the racism shown to Crooks. At the time words
such as “nigger” where used commonly to describe
black people and were not thought as offensive.
However know we feel very strong about this type of
discrimination and feel sorry for the outcast Crooks.
He portrays him to be very possessive man as he
keeps everything in his room. This also gives an
impression to make him lonely. How Steinbeck
INTENDS to portray him is completely dependant on
what time generation you read it in.