CROOKS

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  • crooks
    • oppressed, so oppresses
    • 2nd class citizen as he is black and disabled
      • Steinbeck illustrates how loneliness can corrupt and destroy a man
    • ponders on dream to be equal but never actually achieves it
    • given the name crooks as he has a crooked back- no name or respect for a human
    • could be seen as intelligent as he reads a lot
      • ''readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that''
        • forced to entertain himself to cope with his loneliness and boredom
          • California
    • ''nobody got no right to be here but me!'' - to Lennie when he goes into crooks' bunk in barn
    • ''I could get you strung up on a tree so fast it ain't even funny'' - Curley's wife humiliates and asserts her slither of power over him. Sign of racism after he tries to assert his rights.
      • has enough pride and independence to stand up for himself.
        • ''i had enough,'' he said coldly. ''You got no right comin' in a colored man's room''.
          • ''Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego-nothing.''
    • "What if George don't come back?" - He taunts Lennie, as he's never been able to assert his power over someone till now
      • jealousy of their close friendship, taunts and teases Lennie
    • "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you were black... A guy needs somebody - to be near him... I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." shows his desperation and hurt due to being isolated
    • Realistic and cynical to Geoge and Lennie's dream, heard and seen it all before
      • ''nobody gets to heaven and nobody gets no land''
      • important as he makes us realise the dream is nothing but a fantasy.
    • victim of racial prejudice
      • '' i ain't wanted in the bunkhouse cause i'm black''
    • Advantage- has more possessions, showing he has been a stable buck for a long time and that this job is more permanent. Good at his job, more than he gets credit for.
    • Steinbeck is also fair, crooks given his own room, candy thinks he's a 'nice fella'.
    • not only a black man in a society that regulates non-whites to a sub-human status, but partially disabled in a society that values human beings simply on their ability to provide a service.
    • dignified reluctance to let people in his room. secretly delighted to playing host to Lennie and George.
  • Steinbeck makes us aware of crooks' inner feelings to make us sympathise for his isolation and unfair treatment.

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