Of Mice and Men - Crooks

Question 1

Crooks – Theme: Race, Disability & Prejudice – Quotes

Answer 1

1. “Why ain’t you wanted?” – “Cause I’m black”
2. “get you strung up in a tree so easy”

Question 2

Crooks – Theme: Race, Disability & Prejudice – Context

Answer 2

Crooks’ stinging words reveal the intersection of racial and social discrimination in the 1930s. His very name and treatment on the ranch are emblematic of the systemic exclusion and prejudice faced by black workers.

Question 3

Crooks – Theme: Loneliness – Quotes

Answer 3

1. “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody to talk to.”
2. “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy cause you was black.”

Question 4

Crooks – Theme: Loneliness – Context

Answer 4

Isolated by institutionalized racism, Crooks’ loneliness is both a personal misery and a societal indictment. His few words capture the agony of exclusion that leads even a normally guarded man to despair.

Question 5

Crooks – Theme: American Dream – Quotes

Answer 5

1. “Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure at the torture.”
2. “They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it”.

Question 6

Crooks – Theme: American Dream – Context

Answer 6

In a bitter twist, Crooks finds a perverse satisfaction in small moments of control—even as the greater American Dream remains elusive. His brief pleasure reflects a deep-seated need for dignity in a world rigged against him.