Discussion Topic
Crooks' reactions to George's and Lennie's interactions and plans in Of Mice and Men
Summary:
In Of Mice and Men, Crooks initially reacts with skepticism to George's and Lennie's dream of owning land, believing it to be an unrealistic fantasy. However, as he listens more, he becomes intrigued and even offers to join them, revealing his deep-seated loneliness and desire for companionship and security.
In Of Mice and Men, how does Crooks react to George's and Lennie's plan?
In Of Mice and Men, Crooks cycles through different responses when he hears of George's and Lennie's plans for their future.
Being an African-American during the time period of segregation, Crooks is not allowed to interact with the other ranch hands. As he sits alone in his room, it is clear that Crooks does not trust the outside world. When Lennie asks him why he sits alone, Crooks is direct when he says it is because of his race. Lennie tells Crooks about the plans that he and George have. At first, Crooks does not really want to listen to Lennie. However, when he learns of their dreams, Crooks responds with disbelief. He says that many workers like Lennie and George have come to the ranch with the same dream. Crooks says that he has been around long enough to see that nothing comes out of their hopes. However, as Crooks listens to Lennie and then Candy talk about how they can envision the finances to make their dream a reality, Crooks is impressed. He muses to himself that he has never actually seen someone close enough to achieve their dream. As he thinks, Crooks asks if he could join them in the pursuit of their dream.
However, at this point, Curley's wife enters. When she verbally abuses Crooks, reminding him that she could have him lynched because of his race, Crooks relents. He realizes that no matter what his dreams would be, he will always be a man of color in a discriminatory society. At this moment, Crooks tells Candy that he does not want to participate in their dream. Crooks displays skeptical, hopeful, and alienated responses to Lennie's and George's dream.
In Of Mice and Men, why does Crooks let Lennie into his room despite initially reacting badly?
Consider the life of a segregated African-American in 1930s California. And Crooks is not only segregated from the other ranch hands, but he is the only black man ostensibly anywhere nearby. I think Crooks is both lonely and bored.
He is also intrigued by the fact that Lennie doesn't seem to understand why Crooks is treated differently. He just strikes up a conversation (albeit a naive, innocent one) with Crooks as though the two were not a black man and a white man, but just two men. This is quite likely the only time Crooks has ever felt this way in his life.
Even though you could argue that the men on the ranch were not intentionally cruel towards Crooks, he probably felt the sting of segregation more than most, as he was facing it entirely alone.
In my opinion, Crooks lets Lennie in because he realizes that Lennie is even more of an outcast than he is.
At first, I think that Crooks doesn't want to let Lennie in because his room is his sanctuary. This is the only place where he doesn't have to feel inferior to all the white people. So he doesn't want to let anyone in to make him feel inferior.
But Lennie can't make Crooks feel inferior. Lennie is too pathetic in his own right. Crooks finally lets him in after he and Lennie talk about Lennie and George and the puppies. This shows how sad Lennie is -- he needs the puppies, George won't let him touch them, it's pretty pathetic.
How does Crooks react to Lennie's visit in Of Mice and Men?
Crooks' bunk is in the harness room, separate from the bunks of the other men. He is segregated because he is black. This segregation manifests in other ways. Since he feels ostracized, Crooks has developed a justifiably indignant demeanor. If he can not share the same space and activities as the other men, he feels more inclined to be guarded and protective of his own space:
This room was swept and fairly neat, for Crooks was a proud, aloof man. He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs.
Given Crooks' perspective on the white/black issue, it is not surprising that when Lennie comes to visit, Crooks wants him to leave immediately. Crooks has no idea that Lennie is simple, honest, and in no way interested in the black/white issue. He simply wants to see a puppy. Lennie asks why Crooks isn't wanted by the other men. Crooks responds:
’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.
Despite Crooks' aloof demeanor, Lennie's smile wins Crooks over and he invites Lennie to sit. Crooks toys with Lennie, suggesting the possibility that George might leave him. This seems vindictive but Crooks is actually trying to get Lennie (or just someone) to understand what it is like to be black, segregated, and alone in a different sense. Crooks lets up when Lennie gets scared and is nicer towards him. When Candy joins them, they all find a common hope in the farm, but Curley's wife disrupts this camaraderie when she joins the conversation.
In Of Mice and Men, why does Crooks initially reject Lennie from his room?
A "proud, aloof man," Crooks is absorbed in rubbing liniment onto his crooked back when Lennie appears like a humble, ingratiating puppy in the doorway of the barn:
For a moment Crooks did not see him, but on raising his eyes he stiffened and a scowl came on his face.
Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends.
You go no right to come in my room. This her's my room,. Nobody got any right in here but me.
After telling Lennie that he has no right to come into his room, Crooks tells him that he has no business in the barn since he is no skinner: "You ain't got nothing to do with horses." But, Lennie explains that everyone else is gone, and he has come "to see my pup." Against Lennie's "disarming smile" and childlike ways, Crooks condescends to let Lennie stay. Soon he realizes that Lennie is not capable of repeating what he says, so he opens up in their conversation having been lonely for such a long time.
He enjoys toying with Lennie to turn the tables, so to speak, since it has always been he who has been rejected: "S'pose George went into town tonight...[and]don't come back no more...Lennie gets worried, and then angered when Crooks persists in torturing him. When Lennie stands up and walks "dangerously" toward Crooks asking "Who hurt George?" Crooks realizes that he must desist.
Gently, he talks to Lennie, explaining that Lennie has George and he has no one. Expressing one of Steinbeck's motifs, Crooks tells Lennie,
A guy needs somebody--to be near him....A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you...I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.
In his defensive pride, Crooks first rebuffs Lennie's attempt to enter the barn, then, he later reveals his angst: loneliness. This search for brotherhood is a motif of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."
Crooks is the black stable buck in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. Because he is a black man living on an all white ranch in the 1930's he is a victim of both racism and segregation. He is rarely welcomed into the bunkhouse where the white workers live. Candy describes one time when Crooks was invited into the bunkhouse and, because of his color, is involved in a fight. Candy says in chapter two,
"They let the nigger come in that night. Little skinner name of Smitty took after the nigger. Done pretty good, too. The guys wouldn’t let him use his feet, so the nigger got him. If he coulda used his feet, Smitty says he woulda killed the nigger. The guys said on account of the nigger’s got a crooked back, Smitty can’t use his feet.”
Crooks lives in a private room in the barn and when Lennie, who is lonely because George has gone into town, tries to enter, the black man becomes defensive. He tells Lennie that it is not fair for the big man to come into his room because he is not welcomed in the bunkhouse where Lennie lives. When Lennie asks why he is not wanted Crooks says,
“’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”
Lennie, of course, doesn't really understand this. He has no awareness of racism. For Lennie, Crooks is just another man on the ranch. He sees Crooks's light and wants the companionship. He doesn't know it's bad to socialize with a black man.
In Of Mice and Men, how does Crooks react to Lennie's intrusion?
In Chapter Four of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, George has gone into town on Saturday night along with some of the other ranch hands, leaving Lennie behind. While in the barn playing with his puppy he sees the light from Crooks's room. Crooks is the black stable buck who tends the horses and mules on the ranch. Because he is black, Crooks is segregated from the other men and has his own room. In the beginning of the chapter, Steinbeck describes the room, noting several of the objects, including books, medicine bottles and the implements of Crooks's work. When Lennie appears in the doorway, Crooks is defensive and tells Lennie to go away:
Crooks said sharply, “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.”
Lennie, however, in his innocent and friendly way, stays in the doorway and repeats that he had seen Crooks's light. Crooks explains to Lennie that he doesn't want Lennie in his room because the men never let him into the bunkhouse to play cards or for conversation. When Lennie questions this, Crooks says,
“’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”
Eventually Crooks gives in and allows Lennie into his room. Steinbeck suggests that Crooks was happy to have the company:
Crooks scowled, but Lennie’s disarming smile defeated him. “Come on in and set a while,” Crooks said. “’Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.” His tone was a little more friendly. “All the boys gone into town, huh?”
In the next part of the chapter, Crooks reveals his intense loneliness to Lennie as he talks about his childhood and how difficult it is to live by himself and not have anyone to talk to.
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