why does chapter 4 end the same way it begins? what does this say about crooks' fate?

The chapter begins with Crooks alone and ends with Crooks alone. Aside from Curly's wife Crooks is perhaps the most tragic character. Isolation is a strong theme in this novella that touches everyone; for Crooks, it envelopes him. He is black and for that reason only, he must live alone. Nothing can or will change for Crooks on this ranch.

The chapter has a cyclical structure as nothing really changes for Crooks. There was a glimmer of hope that he may be able to have someone to converse with, and that he too could have a dream like George and Lennie, but his isolation is more extreme even than theirs, and he returns to the raw solitude of his existence.

Why does Steinbeck start and end the chapter in the same way if you consider how the dream rises and falls?