The Presentation Of Crooks In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
467 Words2 Pages
How is Crooks presented by Steinbeck in Of Mice and Men?
Throughout the novel Steinbeck presents Crooks as an outsider in ranch life, who is segregated from the other ranch workers. This is apparent from the first moment Steinbeck introduces us to Crooks, through Candy’s mind who states that he ‘Got books in his room’. This immediately illustrates the level of segregation between Crooks and the other ranch workers. Crooks does not live with them or is even a part of their social lives; he is completely isolated. Later in the novel, when Crooks approaches the bunk house, Steinbeck tells the reader that Crooks opens the door ‘quietly’. This implies that Crooks knows he is an outsider and feels as if he is intruding upon the lives of the other men when he opens the door. Steinbeck reiterates this when Crooks ‘put in his head’ into the bunkhouse suggesting that Crooks only feels comfortable poking his head in but does not want to actually step in. This therefore portrays his feeling that he’s intruding just by stepping in the door and is hesitant to enter the bunk house. Steinbeck explains this further in Chapter 4 of the novel during a conversation between Lennie and…show more content… This depicts how Crooks feels unwelcome in the other men’s lives and shows how isolated he is: the bunk house is the centre of the ranch workers social lives and by feeling excluded from there,