How Does Steinbeck Present Prejudice In Of Mice And Men

As a black man in the 1930s, Crooks is treated as less than because he is black, despite having worked at the ranch for a significant amount of time. Crooks is lonely and does not have much of a chance at communicating with others since he is separated from everyone else. The text states, “They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm black. They say I stink” (Steinbeck 68). This quote shows how discriminated against Crooks is.

Helen Tran Mrs. Ellis Language Arts Honors 23 October 2017 Prejudice for the overlooked and dead. In the Great Depression, only the most useful and the strongest thrive. In the best-selling novel, Of Mice and Men, two migrant workers on a ranch meet an old man named Candy, who owned an ancient dog. Carlson, a fellow worker on the ranch, suggested to kill off Candy's old dog.

Crooks finds this exclusion especially unfair because where he's from there weren't slaves. He gets treated horribly by these people but yet he still wants them to accept him as they would the other white people. Crooks often masks his words with distaste but he does enjoy any kind of company he can get. Overall Crooks is driven by loneliness. Lennie sees the light in Crook's room and is attracted by it.

Sydney Votino Mrs. Daquelente English 2 12 May 2023 Formal Outline: Cause-and-Effect Essay Thesis: Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks are characters from John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men who struggles with mental issues, being used, and racism leading to broken dreams that negatively impacted their lives. Body Topic A: To begin, Lennie’s experience with mental issues ruined his dream and drastically changed his hopes for the future. Direct Quote

Because he is treated differently due to the color of his skin. In the book, he is shunned and outcasted from the rest of the farm workers, leaving Crooks in isolation. In the book, Crooks says: “I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room.” (Steinback #68) The isolation from his peers made him wary of social interactions.

(Steinbeck 26). Similarly, when Curley meets Lennie for the first time, Steinbeck illustrates his glance as “calculating and pugnacious” (Steinbeck 26). Ultimately, Curley is one of the few characters who specifically target Lennie because of his mental disability and he intentionally looks at Lennie quarelly because of his size causing Lennie to feel attacked. Another instance of discrimination is Crooks. In the novella Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, which makes him exceptional.

One of his biggest challenges is that he is consistently not apart. For example, when all the other workers would go out to town, Crooks stays in his bunk and reads. He is aware of this discrimination and explains it to Lennie by saying, “ ‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.

Societal discrimination is a topic that courses through every day life and alters individuals, regardless if it’s noticeable or not. People are judged, beaten down and discriminated against by the society around us and it dramatically affects how people think, how they act and who they turn out to be. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, two labourers, George and Lennie, travel to California after fleeing from the town of Weed after they get themselves into an undesirable situation. Throughout the rest of the novel, the reader is introduced to several other characters who all seem to face some sort of injustice. Towards the end of the novel, Lennie ends up getting involved with one of the workers' wives and makes an unforgettable mistake.

Crooks is a black man who has been given the nickname because of his crooked back. He is another character in the novel that is discriminated against. Similarly, as Lennie and Candy are discriminated because of their weakness, Crooks is discriminated because of his race. For example, he says how he “ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse… can’t play [cards] because I’m black” (68). His race causes him to be separated from everyone else and be isolated in his own room.

Everyone Gets Stereotyped Stereotyping others can lead to problems in the future and can cause people to become upset. When the characters George and Lennie from the book Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, are first introduced its easy to tell George stereotypes Lennie as stupid. Since Lennie is stereotyped as stupid, he causes problems throughout the book. George is also stereotyped, but as protective of Lennie. Throughout the book George tries to help Lennie as much as he can, even if it leads to a bad situation.

But he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him.” (40) This shows that George used Lennie’s mental disability to amuse himself, completely disrespecting Lennie as a person and making himself feel more powerful. A third example of this from the book is where Curley’s wife says to Crooks “Well you keep your place then, Nigger.

They say I stink. Well I tell you all of you stink to me.” ” (65) Crooks was shunned because his physical appearance and wasn’t treated the same as the rest of the men. This makes Crooks a key character that informs us of the social injustices that where prominent during the time period of the novel.

In the novel of mice and men by John Steinbeck he was able to captured the voice of the American people during the depression era. He showed that people were racist people during that time. Like on page 19 well when the bus will get mad he will look for Crooks and bypass everybody else just to yell at him because he was the only black person. Another example of how he shows that there is still racism in that era Candy"even though he's not racist to crooks he still calls him the N-word even though their friends“. Which shows that even though that there was some acceptance of black people why people will still call the network even know it was the right thing to do.so with that evidence being shown shows that John Steinbeck wasn't a racist.

In the book Of Mice and Men two migrant workers, George and Lennie are dropped of miles away from the farm where they are going to be starting their new jobs. George and Lennie are completely different men, George is a tiny dark man with sharp strong features. Lennie is the total opposite of George he is a giant tall man with a dull face. As the two are walking towards the farm they have a nice conversation. From this conversation George realizes that Lennie might have a tiny mental problem.

No matter how sad, he will still be a lonely black man with absolutely no power. Though some characters in the story have put aside racism, Crooks will still always be at the bottom of the chain when it comes to have having power and rights. This is shown when Curley's wife comes in and reminds Crooks the things that she can have him killed in the blink of an eye. The novel states, “‘Well you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.’”