Of Mice And Men- Crooks Character Profile (GCSE)

Crooks

Crooks is described as a ‘proud, aloof man.’ His ‘body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine,’ and his ‘eyes lay deep in his head.’ ‘Pain tightened lips’ suggests that Crooks has had a bad life, most likely because of his race, which would have been a cause for attacks in 1930s America, when the book was set. Crooks is discriminated against throughout the novella. When Lennie goes into his room, Crooks immediately gets defensive and says that Lennie has no right to go in there, because it was his room. This is because Crooks wasn’t allowed to go into the Bunkhouse with the other men (racial segregation) and so saw it as insulting when any of them went into the space which was clearly established as his own. Crooks has a nice personality, but he has a lot of defences up which can often come off as being horrible. Mainly, though, I think that Crooks is a nice man that has just not had a very nice time, just because of his race and the time in which he lived.

Crooks doesn’t have any relationships with the majority of the men, as he is not with them for most of the novella. Crooks doesn’t like Lennie to begin with, but he starts to like him after they have been talking for a while. Crooks realises that Lennie is a good person to talk to, and sees him as company since he doesn’t normally have any. Lennie doesn’t like Crooks at first because Crooks tells him that George isn’t going to come back for Lennie, and Lennie gets really scared and upset. After a while, though, Lennie warms up to Crooks. Like Crooks, Lennie enjoys the company and the fact that Crooks will listen to him talk, even if Crooks does insult him every five minutes. Crooks and Candy have a similar relationship, but it is better established as they have known each other longer. They both get on quite well, and, when Candy is first mentioning Crooks to George and Lennie, he says that he is a ‘nice fella.’ Candy seems to be able to see past Crooks’ race better than some of the other men, focussing instead on the fact that he ‘has a lot of books in his room.’ This implies he’s been in before and had conversations with him. Crooks is incredibly scared of Curley’s wife. This is because she threatens to have him ‘strung up in a tree,’ and is always making racist and demoralising comments about him. He knows that she is more powerful than him, and so he goes back in his shell whenever she is around. Curley’s wife doesn’t like Slim, probably because he is the only person she can overpower. She knows that she can do whatever she wants to him because of his race, and uses this to her advantage.

Themes explored in Crooks:

• ·         Discrimination- “If he coulda used his feet, Smitty says he woulda killed the nigger”
• ·         Loneliness- “It’s just bein’ with another guy. That’s all.”
• ·         Friendship- "'Long as you won't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." His tone was a little more friendly.
• ·         American Dream- “They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it."
• ·         The Dream- "… If you … guys would want a hand to work for nothing—just his keep, why I'd come an' lend a hand. I ain't so crippled I can't work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to."
• ·         Racism- "This is just a nigger talkin', an' a busted-back nigger. So it don't mean nothing, see?"