Of Mice And Men Essay On Loneliness
...on the
ranch. Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy are the most
excluded characters on the ranch, because they all have
dreams that they will not be able to live out and they all are
at loss when it came to companionship. Crooks is lonely
because he is the only black man on the ranch. Since this
book is set during the Depression, Jim Crow laws are still in
effect, whites and blacks had separate facilities for socializing
and living. Crooks comments that he can't live in the
bunkhouse, and cannot
even play cards in there. "I cannot
' play
because I'm black. They say I stink."(68) This quote
illustrates that Crooks feels the pain of rejection more that he
let's people see. In fact, Crooks protects himself by acting
like a "proud and aloof man."(67) The full extent of Crooks's
suffering is made clear in chapter 4 when Crooks lashes out
at Lennie. Viewing Lennie as a symbol of all the white men
who had hurt him, Crooks strikes out in anger, saying "You
got no right to come in my room...Nobody got any right in
here but me."(68) Steinbeck states that "Crooks's face
lighted with pleasure in his torture."(71) Crooks's anger,
though, is really just a cover for the pain he experiences from
constant isolation. "A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody ...
A guy gets too lonely and he gets sick."(73) This desire to
have a connection is apparent later in the scene when
Crooks hears Lennie and Candy's plan to buy a little ranch.
Wistfully, he suggests, "If you guys want a hand to work for
nothing, just his keep, why Id come and lend a hand."(76)
No matter how hard Crooks may try to hide the hurt he
feels, he clearly would like to be included in this venture with
the other men. Crooks's dream, however, lasts only for a
few minutes. When Curley's wife threatens Crooks with a
lynching, he quickly remembers the terrible reality of his
situation ....
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