One of the major themes of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men is that having a dream creates hope, friendship, and determination, enabling one to strive onward in life with a sense of importance. Three major examples show this idea. The first example is Candy’s loss of his dog and his joining George and Lennie 's dream of owning land. A second example is Crook’s memory of his father’s chicken ranch. A third significant example is George and Lennie 's dream of having their own place. These three examples display the theme that having high aspirations breed hope, friendship, and determination, enabling one to strive onward with a sense of self-worth or importance. Candy’s loss of his dog and his joining George and Lennie 's …show more content…
In this passage Crooks alludes to his dream. He dreams of being able to communicate and be with others on an equal basis. He explains to Lennie that his “‟ol man didn’t like” the white kids playing with Crooks. He tells Lennie, “I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know” (p.47), implying that Crook‟s father was discriminated against because of his skin color. Crooks‟ longing for equality in the form of companionship is reiterated later in the same chapter when Crooks bitterly tells Lennie, “Spose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy „cause you was black. . .A guy needs somebody – to be near him. . .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. . .a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick” (p.51). Crooks is sick. His illness stems from complete isolation, total discrimination. His illness is a bitterness caused by those discriminating against him. A third significant example is George’s and Lennie’s dream of having their own place. For George the idea of owning his own place would allow him to keep Lennie from getting into trouble. But more importantly, this dream makes George strive toward a goal. George‟s dream is not even close to becoming a reality until Candy offers to contribute three hundred and fifty dollars
Lennie is treated differently because the other men don’t understand him as little was known
Crooks frequently utters negatives (“nobody”, “ain’t”), this reflects on his pessimism and his negative outlook on life. On a larger perspective, this eventually mirrors why he has this specific attitude, which is as a result of peoples ill treated manner towards him because of his racial distinction. This shows how Crooks has evolved to survive in this world purely based on judgments.
Crooks is one of the many characters who has to deal with an impairment everyday but his impairment is not like the others impairments. With Crooks being black no one likes him because the time this book is set in is when slavery is still taking place. “This is a nigger talking an a busted nigger so it don’t mean nothing“(pg71). This example shows that Crooks is very aloof from everyone because no one cares what he has to say because he is black. A final instance when this impairment is used is when Crooks first tells Candy he wants to help with their dream house by staking out some of his profit to help with the payment so he can live with them. He later changes his mind because he is a black and no one would want him there. Crooks knows that he has to stay aloof from everyone because of his impairment of
Of coarse, the "opening" is symbolic not only of the physical, but of the emotional gaps in Crooks. Lennie Small, the strong but mentally challenged laborer, is often the only character that can fill the void for others, such as his friend, George. It is only someone like Lennie that can earnestly ask Crooks why he is not wanted in the bunk house, which Crooks explains is "Cause I'm Black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me" (68). Clearly, he is bitter towards his oppressors. Lennie continues to remain in the annoyed prescence of Crooks explaining George and Lennie's plan to "get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan' (69). At this point, Crooks becomes the oppressor, and the weak revenges himself by pickig on the weaker, and questions whether George, Lennie's friend and guardian, will come back from a night out with the boys. The childlike mind but giant strength of Lennie is troubled to the point of anger. Once Crooks ends his torture because " he saw the danger as it approached him," Crookes begins his speech about of his hopless lonliness:
He is treated different because of his color, he is not seen equal. Crooks usually does not have anyone to talk to. Lennie was the only one that was nice to him, and Crooks was not welcoming to him. Even though i feel sympathy for Crooks and Curley’s wife, i feel most sympathy for
In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the character named Crooks was segregated from the other men because he is black. This caused him to be lonely. He was forced to sleep in a separate bunk than the others. Trapped in solitude all night long; he resorts to books as his only companion. Trying to portray himself as proud and aloof by his own will, but inside is happy to be around the other men. Crooks first tried to make Lennie leave his room but then he decided that Lennie would not understand and that he actually wanted someone to talk with. During his conversation with Lennie Crooks reveals his loneliness on the ranch. “I seen it over an’ over
He never learns his lesson and one day kills Curley’s wife which leads him to his own death. If Lennie had cared a little more about his own responsibility for the things he possessed then he could have been the caretaker of the rabbits on the farm George and him planned to purchase.
Crooks hoped for equality and to be able to not stay seperated by his skin tone. He lived a rough life because his family was torn apart and he had nobody else but himself. “‘I ain’t wanted in the bunk house… ’Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black.
‘”An’ it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us. If we don’t like a guy
When we try to chase our dreams, we end up in our own diminutive lonely world. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, has taught readers that the American dream can only ever be accomplished through hard work and determination. More times than others, we are distracted by the dream itself, and don’t chase the reality, which can then lead to high expectations, and without hard determination, that can then failure. In the end, we have been lonely for so long, chasing a dream, that when reality hits us, we become isolated and lonely. For George and Lennie, they have each other, until the American dream seemed too hard to chase.
Though Crooks is a Black man he is a hell of a good worker, so he says himself. When he talks to Lennie and Candy he feels pleasure mixed with anger. When Curley 's wife comes in and threatens him, he feels small and scared and feels like he lost power and privileges over his room and realizes he is black and shouldn 't have back talked her. He knows what she could do to him for what he did, so she says her self. “She closed on him. “You know what I could do?”.....“Well, you keep your place then....I could get you strung up so easy it ain 't funny. '”(80, 81). Because she was a white female and the boss ' son 's Wife she had superiority over him and so he felt alone at that moment. He didn 't realize the cruelness of white folk when he was younger but as he grew older he did, mainly because of where he slept and the way he was treated. “ 'Why ain 't you wanted?”...“Cause I 'm black. They play cards in there, but I can 't play because I 'm black... '”(68). This
In the novel “Of Mice and Men”, the character of Crooks is used by John Steinbeck, the author, to symbolise the downgrading of the black community occurring at the time in which the novel was set. Crooks is also significant as he provides an insight into the reality of the American Dream and the feelings of the people in the ranch; their loneliness and need for company.
Although some people's dreams were destroyed at this time, some clenched tightly on to their dreams. Such individuals were characters that stuck together. George and Lennie had a dream. They wanted their own land where they could do what they wanted, somewhere they could call their own.
The friendship between Lennie and George went beyond what was unambiguous, they shared a common dream, and they never stopped trying to acheive their dream. They dream of a peice of land of their own. Independence. A couple of acres, a cow, some pigs, and rabbits that Lennie dreams of tending to. Their dream will later be shattered by fate.
The author uses George's dream to prove that dreams do not always come true. When George, Lennie, and Candy were talking about their dream of having a farm together they uttered, “Go on-tell again, George.’ ‘Well, it's ten acres,’ said George. ‘Got a little