Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself. She closed on him. “You know what I could do?” Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. “Yes, ma’am.” “Well, you keep your place then, N----r. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego—nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, “Yes, ma’am,” and his voice was toneless.(Steinbeck 119)
This quote shows the harsh reality that Crooks must constantly face and how it affects him. The different actions being describes such as the way that Crooks reduces himself to nothing and presses himself against the wall shows us that all of the discrimination really does get to him.