Why is Crooks from "Of Mice and Men" is the loneliest character? Use use the critical race theory to explain.

Explain why crooks is the loneliest character in Of mice and Men and use the critical race theory to explain. Use text evidence to support your claims. Use pleasehelp me, I don't want to fail my class and I struggled with this and got stuck. please do this before monday, june 6, if you can.

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Of Mice and Men Literary Lens Essay

Mao Tse-Tung stated, “Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.” The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck takes place on a ranch in Salinas Valley, California during the 1930s. This novel tells the story of two men who try to escape homelessness and cope with their mental and physical problems by finding a job on a farm as workers to have a second chance at life. While reading Of Mice and Men through a Marxist lens, it changes the perspective on the characters and the plot. A Marxist perspective focuses on the political and economic aspects which are based around all property being distributed equally, all property publicly owned, and everyone is paid based on their abilities and needs. Reading the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck through a Marxist lens reveals that a communist construct dictates life on the ranch so that disenfranchised characters will never have an equal opportunity at power.

Literary theory discusses the topic of viewing a story from different perspectives and that there is no right way to read a story. Literary theory is important because it helps readers understand different viewpoints and allows a deeper understanding of the author’s work. A Marxist lens can strongly change the readers viewpoint and perspective on the novel while it highlights the rural and impoverished areas of the novel. A Marxist lens also reveals the social and economic differences among the characters such as the differences between Curley and Crooks. Curley does not work as hard yet he makes more money than Crooks while Crooks is a very hard worker. A marxist perspective is present in this situation because if Crooks were paid based on the amount of work and his ability, he would make a lot more money than Curley. A marxist lens changes the focus on the novel because without communism, the life on the ranch would not show the difference in money and hard work. The marxist lens also reveals that the characters are in different social classes based on their appearance and how they act towards others.

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the boss’ description in clothing makes him seem more high class which gives the effect that he has more power and money. “He wore blue jean trousers, a flannel shirt, a black, unbuttoned vest, and a black coat. His thumbs were stuck in his belt, on each side of a square steel buckle. On his head was a soiled brown Stetson hat, and he wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a laboring man” (Steinbeck 21). This description reveals his appearance in clothing illustrating that he is “...not a laboring man” (Steinbeck 21). This evidence shows that communism is present in the novel through the description of the boss and because the boss is not paid by his ability to work, equality is not present.

A marxist lens shapes the characters and that they do not have an equal opportunity for power. An example of this is the character Crooks. Crooks will never be the boss and doesn’t have an equal opportunity with power due to his skin color and a crooked back, hence the name Crooks. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Crooks is displayed as nice but it is also mentioned that the boss gives him a hard time which shows that Crooks will never have an opportunity as boss. "Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where. a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that…” (Steinbeck 21). This moment shows that Crooks does not have an equal opportunity for power and to be boss due to his back. Another example of unequal power among Crooks is the color of his skin. “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 81). This shows that Crooks’ dreams of being equal were ruined by the racial discrimination among the other workers after being bashed on for the color of his skin and consistently being called the “n-word slur”. Many characters in the novel are not paid equally and do not have an equal opportunity at power due to the color of their skin or their social class.

Additionally, the hard-working characters aren’t paid for their abilities or work which is shown through the characters, George and Lennie. George and Lennie are two of the main characters in the novel Of Mice and Men but also some of the loneliest since all they do is work. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to" (Steinbeck 15). This quote reveals that George and Lennie, who are very hard-working people, don’t make as much money as they should and that they’re also very lonely because all they do is work yet they aren’t equal. A Marxist lens reveals this because since they aren’t paid for the amount of work they do, they end up struggling and appearing lower in society which leads to judgment among the other characters in the novel. Reading the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck through a Marxist lens reveals that a communist construct rules life on the ranch and that disenfranchised characters will never have an equal opportunity at power. A marxist lens centers the attention on the political and economic factors of being equal and being paid on your ability and hard work. The characters that go unnoticed are the ones who are the most hard-working. Has the distribution of power and wealth and opportunity improved since the 1920s in the country? Who goes unnoticed in our world today?