Crooks

Right then, it's time for the first "proper" post to this blog. Armed with literally no blogging experience and a recently-found lost copy of Of Mice and Men, we can finally get things underway...

OK, so this first post is all about what the characters represent. The entire ranch is a cross-section of american society. If you want, it is like an orange. Each character represents a different segment of American society (or, in this case, a different segment of orange). 

Let's start with Crooks. Crooks represents the minorities in America and is treated accordingly, suffering with segregation that was accepted in the USA at the time of writing. The name "Crooks" also shows how the minorities were treated with distrust by their fellow Americans, hence his name. Crooks lives in a separate outbuilding to the rest of the ranch workers, again highlighting how the minorities were segregated against, as they had to use different seats on the bus, different taxis and even different toilets in the Pentagon! However, Crooks is also suspicious of the other ranch workers, as he keeps "a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905" and also says to Lennie that "I know my rights" when Lennie inadvertently walks straight into Crooks' room. This shows that Crooks expects trouble from the other workers on the ranch and therefore keeps a reference of his rights to use in his defence should such trouble arise.

You can read a digital copy of Of Mice and Men by clicking here