Crooks

Blacks originally came from West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia). Rich white land owners wanted slaves to work on cotton plantations in the Deep South (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia). In the early 1800 century blacks grew in numbers in small community theses are commonly referred to as nigger nests. People in the north did not agree with slavery and thus forth created the American civil war. In the 1860's the north won and slaves were freed but wee still classed as second class citizens. Crooks from â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is a prime example of how blacks were treated in the 1860's. He is called â€Å"a nigger† by the other workers this shows that they don't give him enough respect to call him by his own name. Crooks is only allowed in the bunkhouse during Christmas and then is only used for sport for the other workers entertainment. The other workers shout at him and in the last paragraph curly steal's his gun. This shows that he is treated with no respect at all by the other workers. Crooks' living accommodation tells us how mistreated he is for example Crooks lives in a â€Å"little shed† .this tell us that he is seen as small and weak. â€Å"Square four panel window† this makes his home sound like a prison. This tells us he is trapped in his job with no chance of escape. His bed is a box of straw. This tells us he is treated like an animal and not even aloud a real bed. Outside of his window there is a pile of horse poo this tells us he is treated like shit. Crooks has few possessions he has books this tells us he is very literate and likes to read, a gun this tells us he needs to protect himself from something, an alarm clock this tells us he stick to a schedule and has duties to attend to, several pairs of shoe's this Shows us he works hard and has to replace his shoes often. His possessions are the only things he can use's to pass the time this helps us to understand his extreme loneliness. Crooks was injured by a horse kicking him now he is disabled this adds to his problems. Steinbeak reminds us that he is like white i.e. pink palms and pink lips. All of the people in the ranch judge him except from slim and Lennie this tells us he is an outsider. On the ranch crooks works as a stable buck (attends to the horse's) the owners and the workers actually need him but they don't lets it seem like they do. He is actually more skilled then most men but because of his colour he is treated much worse than the other men. The only thing he can really do as a pass time is read his books and tend to the horses this tells us he is educated an able to read and he is dedicated to his job because even in his free time he is still tending to the horses. His extreme loneliness suggests that some of his books are pornographic. This exaggerates his loneliness. Crooks's feelings are conflicted when it comes to the workers he wants company but he feels threatened by the other workers. The only people he willingly let into his home is lennie and slim he doesn't see them as a threat because only there the only people on the ranch that don't judge him for being black. The only other person he lets in is his boss but does this unwillingly. This tells us that he is very protective of his little piece of land. Crooks is constantly in pain from his accident. This makes him angry and short tempered. He is also in a lot of mental pain. He deals with the fact that he is a nobody and is under constant fear that the other workers will turn on him. Crooks was brought up in California .but is an immigrant from Mexico. Therefore he has always been an outsider. He has some companions like lennie and slim but not often most of the time he is either with the horses or on his own. Curly's wife destroyed his hope of any future friendship by reminding him of his worthlessness and belittling him. Crooks cause his own isolation by shutting people out. He wants to build a wall to block everyone else out ban leave isolate himself from the rest of the world.