"Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. “I had enough,” he said coldly. “You got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t, I’m gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more.” She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, N WORD,” she said. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” 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 WORD. 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)
In this piece of the text, we see that Crooks stands up for himself and his new friends against Curley's wife but it ends up backfiring on him. He seemed to have gained confidence when he talked to the white dudes and thought he had the power to do things that they can but forgot about reality for a second. Curley's wife told him what she could do to him and shuts him down and from there, we can see that Crooks stays quiet while talks, looks at her with respect, pressed himself against the wall, and somewhat removed himself from anything that had just gone on and made it seem like he had no opinion or presence in his own room. When Crooks acts like he did by showing respect, being quiet, and backing down when Curley's wife speaks disrespectfully to him, we can see the social hierarchy coming into play. The actions that he took display how his character has no power to do anything at all and decreases his confidence to do anything while she is there. It ultimately shows how he understands what she can do to him so he doesn't do anything.