Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Crooks - Coggle Diagram
Crooks
SPEECH
-
"S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy ’Cause you was black. How’d you like that?... 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. " (Steinbeck 111).
This dialogue reveals Crooks's wise character, as he teaches a significant lesson to Lennie and his position with George. This also goes back to his loneliness on the ranch due to being a black man.
THOUGHTS
“'There wasn’t another colored family for miles around. And now there ain’t a colored man on this ranch an’ there’s jus’ one family in Soledad.' He laughed. 'If I say something, why it’s just a n----r sayin’ it'" (Steinbeck 108).
This further draws into Crooks's loneliness and how that defined his life from childhood to where he is now in the ranch. The last statement gives insight about his hopelessness that he experiences as well.
"'You’re nuts.' Crooks was scornful.Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.' " (Steinbeck 112).
This shows the effect his books as well as his pessimism as a result of the way society then was have on his attitude towards something like Candy getting his own land. This creates a complex character of Crooks. Based on his experiences and how he viewed things in his life, he mocks Candy when he mentions something so ideal becoming a reality.
ACTIONS
"Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself" (Steinbeck 119).
When Crooks gets confronted by Curley's wife, he immediately conforms and acts as the typical image of a black man in that time period. This weighs on him to show he's under control even despite his control that he perceives over his own living space.
"He pulled out his shirt in back, poured a little liniment in his pink palm and, reaching around, he fell slowly to rubbing his back" (Steinbeck 122).
This occurs more than once in the chapter, and this action of rubbing his back with the liniment emphasizes his deformed physique and the metaphorical pain that he experiences as a black man.
POSSESSION/ENVIRONMENT
Books
"And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. There were battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk" (Steinbeck 104).
Even though Crooks is a black man and usually black people don't have such access to education and knowledge. Crooks's possession of all these books shows this distinction in his character as a knowledgeable black man, which has significance.
Environment
“'You got a nice cozy little place in here,' he said to Crooks. 'Must be nice to have a room all to yourself this way.' 'Sure,' said Crooks. 'And a manure pile under the window. Sure, it’s swell'" (Steinbeck 113).
There's sarcasm from Crooks's remark with some juxtaposition shown within the quote. Candy admires how it must be to be alone in a room to yourself; however, Crooks previously mentions the effect of loneliness. In this quote, the sarcasm shows the kind of environment Crooks is in as a black man and the way he is treated.
EFFECT ON OTHERS
“'Want me ta tell ya what’ll happen? They’ll take ya to the booby hatch. They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog.' Suddenly Lennie’s eyes centered and grew quiet, and mad. He stood up and walked dangerously toward Crooks. 'Who hurt George?' he demanded" (Steinbeck 110).
Due to Crooks's perspicacious yet complex character, he has an effect on Lennie when he's giving him a sense of reality and teaching him a lesson. These statements that Crooks make that might seem to intimidate Lennie suddenly make him feel very defensive about George.
LOOKS
"His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity. His lean face was lined with deep black wrinkles, and he had thin, pain-tightened lips..." (Steinbeck 105).
His crooked back and the way Steinbeck described him as having "deep black wrinkles" and "pain-tightened lips" creates an image of Crooks as being oppressed and clearly having gone through difficulties in life.