Crooks Character Analysis

In the novel, the character is given that name because he has a crooked back. As a character, he is used by the author to explain the effect of discrimination. He stays alone because he is the only black worker in the ranch. The first characteristic he has is pride. Even though he is discriminated, he does not want to show other people that he is weal. He tells Lennie that since he is not allowed to go where the other white workers live, his privacy should be respected as well. He does not expect the other people to come where he lives. He wants to maintain his self-respect even when lonely.

Despite his loneliness, Crooks is friendly. At first, he threatens Lennie not to come into his room. However, his resistance wears out, and he strikes a conversation with him. This shows that Crooks yearns for company. Additionally, he also welcomes Candy to enter his room. They are involved in a friendly conversation until Curley’s wife shows up. Though he finds the idea of George and Lennie buying a ranch obnoxious at first, he wants to join then when he hears how they intend to accomplish it. This shows just how much Crooks would like to make new friends.

Crooks is strong-willed. Even though he is mistreated on the farm, he believes that life has to move on. Discrimination is not a situation that anyone can find easy to deal with. Though he is the only black worker on the farm, he lives his life.

His intelligence is seen as the things found in his room. First, there is an old dictionary. That shows that Crooks has a hunger to acquire and apply the knowledge learned. There are also raw materials and spectacles. All these materials show that Crooks is a lover of things that nourish his brain. However, given the conditions that the black people lived in during the period the book is written, it is obvious that Crook’s quest for enlightenment may not help him much.

Additionally, Crooks is fearful. When Curley’s wife threatens him that he will tell people he tried to rape her, he feels uncomfortable. The reader can deduce that this fear is caused by the fact that Crooks does not mention that he has any other home. Being black, he sometimes has to put up with unfair treatment.