I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain't wanted in my room." He continues by saying that the whites believe he stinks and one can interpret this as a way of saying that the whites would find it a disgrace that a nigger should breathe the same bunkhouse air as them. "S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black...Sure, you could play horseshoes 'til dark, but then you have to read books." shows that Crooks pities his own circumstances and vulnerability. However, "his tone was a little more friendly" and, "I didn't mean to scare you" gives us the impression that Crooks has a kind heart under his blunt exterior.
Steinbeck presents the character Crooks as the ‘Negro Stable Buck’ at the ranch, Crooks is also the only black man in the novel. A proud and bitter man, Crooks has a cynical intelligence and a contemptuous demeanor that he uses to prevent others from inevitably excluding him because of his race. His defensive manner fades, however, as his character is dehumanized and segregated from the Ranch even more. We first meet Crooks in Chapter 2, where Candy describes him as a ‘Nigger’, who is treated differently to the other men. The language which Steinbeck shows here, represents the racist and discriminatory attitudes both socially and historically towards black people during the time in which the book is set (1930’s).
In the novel "Of Mice and Men" the character of Crooks is used by John Steinbeck, the author,crooks presents the the black community occurring at the time in which the novel is set. Crooks is also significant as he provides an insight into the reality of the American Dream and the feelings of all the ranchers: their loneliness and need for company and human interaction. I think that the reader gets a choice to decide whether Crooks deserves sympathy, or if he is just a cruel, bitter and gruff stable-buck. As there read the novella Crooks is a black man, but at the time the novel was written, blacks were referred to as "niggers", meant as a white insult. Being a nigger, Crooks is looked down upon by the whites at the ranch and he resents this.
The treatment Crooks received on the ranch revolved around his colour. The other men on the ranch insulted him by calling him a ‘nigger’, and being a ‘nigger’, Crooks is out casted and feels that what he says is more likely a waste of his breath. "If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it" Being demoralized by other men on the ranch has made Crooks into a cruel, malicious, bitter man with a notion that
The word "unpainted" suggests that the inhabitants of the bunkhouse are quite lazy because they can't be bothered to paint the walls. This may lead to the reader thinking that the inhabitants of the bunkhouse don't want to work and that don't want to do anything but laze around so they may dislike the inhabitants. The reader may also be eager to go to the bunkhouse and paint the walls because they don't like things to be boring and they want things to be perfect. Steinbeck presents the bunkhouse inhabitants as very unkempt and uneducated individuals. You find this out because of the dialogue between George and Candy as well as the description of the bunkhouse in the passage; "Positively kills lice, roaches and other scourges.
In the novel of mice and men John Steinbeck (the author) use the character crooks to represent racism and symbolize the marginalization of the black community occurring at the time which the novel was set. Crooks is significant as he provides am insight into reality of the American dream and the feeling of all the ranchers. Crooks got his name from his ‘crooked back’ this suggest that he repeats something different, a hard life and he is not your average ranch hand. It was common for white and black people to be segregated in the 1930s; black people had no civil rights and couldn’t use most of the facilities for example going to school and library. John Steinbeck explores this in the novel through crooks.
Prejudice is Everywhere “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance” (Lee 221). Atticus, the narrator’s father in To Kill a Mockingbird, expresses his disgust in the manner of how white men treat the African-American race. This part of the novel is only one example of the prejudices observed in To Kill a Mockingbird, as the novel highlights the issue throughout. Racism was a major issue a large number of men, women, and even children had to face during the time periods of the novels To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Scout, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, is a young girl living in Maycomb, Alabama.
Many people have the belief that Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, as an autobiography of her own life, including the racism she witnessed (Smith). The turning point in To Kill a Mockingbird is based on the Jim Crow Laws. The term “Jim Crow” came from a one man show song “Jump Jim Crow”. “Jump Jim Crow” was written by Thomas Rice in 1828. Thomas Rice was a white man who painted his face with black paint and represented a poor black man.
She shows it through Atticus, Tom Robinson and the Negro community and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Social inequality can happen to someone because of a choice they made like Atticus or because of his or her color like the Negroes in the book or even because you are antisocial like Arthur. The era of the story had a big affect on all the examples because in the thirties it was wrong for a white man to actually try to defend a black man and, it was expected that Negroes were bad people when they were not. With Arthur’s case it is different, his was because of the fact they lived in a small town where everyone was in each others’ business
The word “nigger” is also designed to make the reader feel inferior and ashamed of the way the character has been treated. 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 applied towards black people on everyday life bases. This quotation shows us that black people’s rights were very limited and that they were not able to stand up for their believes and they accepted the racism they had to endure with. Secondly we are told about Crooks humble 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.