Crooks Analysis in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

People may see crooks this way because he doesn’t show much warmth or friendliness because through his life people have treated him really badly so people who try to talk to him, he doesn’t think that they have the right intentions but that they have some kind of agenda. We see he is actually vulnerable when he talks about how he isn’t allowed to play cards because he is black , he is quick to tell Lennie off but starts to let his guard down as he realises Lennie didn’t come to be mean to him but starts to indulge in talking about wanting to join in their dream for the farm. He might be cynical Because everyone is so rude to him and even curleys wife treats him really badly, and he is isolated. 

You could say crooks is not a cold-hearted character just one that has been met with much discrimination so has lost trust in his fellow man and is in fact a very vulnerable character. His vulnerability come out to Lennie when he is asked why he doesn’t hang with the others. He says “because I’m black. They play cards in there. They say I stink; I can’t play because I’m black well I tell you, you all stink to me.” This quote highlights the segregation on the ranch and shows how he feels resentment towards the other men for treating him this way. His vulnerability is shown by the way he tries to act tough and act like he doesn’t care about the way the other men treat him, but you can tell he does. Another example of this is “this is just a ****** talking, an’a busted, backed ****** so don’t mean nothing you see” This quote highlights how crooks put on a face and is mean to Lennie to cover up his loneliness and hurt by what he goes through, so he says that to highlight that he is called indescribably rude insults on the daily and he goes through a lot. This gives us the impression of crooks that he is quite sensitive that even though we may not be able to tell on the surface he actually is very hurt and upset by the way he is treated by the other men... This shows he is cynical cause he doesn’t trust anyone because they don’t trust him or even respect him. 

Crooks could be seen as cold hearted because he enjoys torturing Lennie and having the power that he never has over anyone even curleys wife this is shown when it says, “Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure at the torture.”  It talks about light in his face this shows that he enjoys torturing Lennie even though Lennie has only showed him respect and kindness. this is because crooks are cynical towards anyone showing him kindness because he isn’t used to it. Lennie is so weak-minded crooks tortures him by telling him George is going to leave, giving crooks the feeling of power and helping him to get revenge. Another example of this is “His voice grew softer and more persuasive “s’pose George don’t come back no more” It shows us crooks realises he can torture Lennie, so he relaxes his voice to calm Lennie and lull him into listening, like a calm before a storm. This shows crooks on purpose wants to hurt Lennie, so he changes his voice and uses manipulation to hurt him. It gives the reader the impression that crooks have been through a lot that could have made him cold hearted because he is treated as an outsider and is quite lonely so he resorts to inflicting hurt on people where he can because he is not use to such power.

Another reason crooks could be seen as cold hearted is because he grew up as one of the only black family around and played with the other white kids. “the white kids come to play at our place an’ sometimes I went to play with them and some of them were pretty nice “This quote shows that crooks grew up with white children and even you could say had friends who were white as he says “I went to play with them” this shows it must have been quite a shock to arrive at the ranch and be treated badly after not necessarily having expected racism from people his age. Another example of this is “My ol’ man didn’t like that I never knew till now why, but I know now” This quote shows that growing up crooks was very naive to the fact his father knew of the racism of white people and realised that crooks would one day face this to so tried to protect him from it. The quote shows some vulnerability as he says “but I know now” telling us of the hardships of racism he goes through. This shows why crooks is cynical of white people because first of all he was told by his dad not to trust white people, so he grew up being taught to be cynical but now he knows why so he is cynical of all white people because he regrets not trusting his dad second of all he grew up playing with white kids, so he expected the same treatment at the ranch but was given the opposite.

In conclusion I think crooks is cynical and resentful because he is hurt a lot by the people on the ranch and he feels lonely and left out, so he resorts to making himself feel better by pushing everyone away. He is resentful because he knows that it is not right how other ranch workers treat him and he knows he deserves better. People may see him as cold hearted because he isn’t very nice to Lennie as he doesn’t think Lennie is just being nice for no reason, he also takes it as an opportunity to get back at Lennie for the way the other ranch workers treat him because for once he has the upper hand because he is smarter than Lennie. Steinbeck is trying to show what people of colour were put through in 1930s America, he is highlighting the horrific way people were treated by showing us a specific person’s feelings, so we resonate with the character and find it easier to understand. and even though racism is not necessarily at this level any more it is a major issue in modern day society, so the themes of this book are still relevant.