Communication 
No Comments Factory stood tall and proud at the end of the bridge. Mist covered lowly in the distance. Car engine roared while they waited. Scared anxious guards looked at the car. Rusty iron gates opened slowly
Communication No Comments In Of Mice and Men prejudice leaves the minor characters feeling lonely and isolated from socialising which leads them questioning themselves as people and very frustrated resulting to an aspect of their failed dreams and goals. Prejudice is when people prejudge people generally because of their gender, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality and other characteristics. In this piece of writing I will be looking at characters and their experiences with isolation, the language used, historic content and theme, Steinbeck’s message within the book and then my conclusion.
Crooks is a minor character that is isolated from people due to prejudice. ‘Crooks the negro stable buck’. ‘His body was bent over to the left by the crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity. His lean face was lined with deep black wrinkles, and he had thin, pain-tightened lips which were lighter than his face’. Steinbeck has described Crooks with extreme detail which he does with all his characters. I included the whole description because it is important to understanding the message of the story. What we can see from this quote is that Crooks is obviously elderly and worked hard all his life which has affected his health ‘crooked spine’. I also think the ‘crooked spine’ links to the pain and suffering he is going through from being lonely, showing its breaking him. Steinbeck has also included in his description of the eyes that they ‘glitter with intensity’ suggesting to us Crooks is angry or worried about being lonely and not able to mix with others. In the description of Crooks we can tell his body has been damaged for example ‘deep black wrinkles’ and ‘pain tightened lips’. Steinbeck has tried to show us Crooks inner feelings through his physical appearance. The ‘deep black wrinkles’ referring to his black and that’s never going to change and the ‘pain tightened lips’ telling us he has so much more to say for himself, but it hurts him to say it. Crooks is isolated in the story due to the colour of his skin. People treat him like an animal because he is black and in the 1930s black people had hardly any rights compared to white people. The other characters don’t want to talk to him because they see him as some lower class citizen which smells just because of his skin colour. Crooks is not allowed to live with the other men in the bunkhouse meaning he has a separate isolated room. The next quotes I will be talking about are from a conversation taken place in Crook’s room between him and Lennie. ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick!’. From this quote we can tell Crooks is obviously feeling very distressed and upset that he has no one to share his life and emotions with. In this next quote we can see his frustration coming out through his statement and expressing the injustice of society through prejudice, ‘cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well l tell you, you all stink to me’. This statement made by Crooks also strongly tells us he wants to play with them but he’s not allowed. With Crooks we can tell he has experienced prejudice for a long time being as he has a high understanding of what it does to someone. The fact is that if someone is prejudged in this case racially, but in Curley’s wife case because she is a female they will feel useless, frustrated and very upset. They will therefore suffer for lowliness and isolation which leads them to keep all their emotions in because they can’t share them with anyone. They will then doubt and question themselves as people meaning their personal dreams will be destroyed and the lack of money from the depression doesn’t help either.
Next I would like to talk about the language Steinbeck uses when describing Crooks, how the people on the ranch talk about Crooks and Crooks similar accent. ‘Crooks possessed several pairs of shoes, a pair of rubber boots, a big alarm clock, and a single-barreled shotgun. And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905’. He has a high amount of various objects (belongings) in his room. I think Crooks owns a lot of objects because he feels he has an emotional connection with them due to the lack of socializing with people. He has to do this because he wants to feel useful and responsible for something. The ‘tattered dictionary’ relates to the horrible language used against him. Tattered is when something is destroyed and ruined. I think the message trying to be given is that the racist language used against Crooks is destroying him as a person which is injustice. Another language device I would like to look at is the use of a metaphor. ‘mauled copy of the California Civil code’ Steinbeck has used this metaphor to show us the civil code is incorrect and damaged. Mauled is something an animal would do to its prey normally wild dogs so I think the message trying to be given is that the people prejudging Crooks are acting like animals and that the Civil Code is wrong. The fact that Crooks has this item in his room suggest to us he knows the rights he has but he don’t necessarily agree with them. When the people talk about Crooks he is always called the nigger. ‘ya see the stable bucks a nigger’ the characters in the story would just use this word freely and frequently. The word nigger is a regarded highly racist and offensive. It is now not acceptable to use the word in today’s society showing us society has changed. Georges and Crooks accents are similar showing us they are actually alike although they have no contact with each other and are different skin colours. George=’me an’ Lennie rollin’ up a stake. I might go in an’ set and have a shot, but I ain’t puttin’ out’. Crooks= ‘well s’pose jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then’. From these quote we can see George and Crooks both don’t pronounce the end of their words correctly, they both seem to try shortening words.
The theme and the historic content are also a very important aspect of the book. ‘a few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas river drops in close to the hillside back and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool’. Steinbeck gives us a beautiful picture of this place. With this description I think his message is that they live in a near perfect place, but the way they socialise with each other is ruining that, it could be so easy to make it better. The word Soledad links to the word solitude which is the state of being alone telling us the theme of the book must be isolation and being lonely. Back in 1930s America it was a time period called the depression. People didn’t have much money and had to travel for work, not in a stable home. This was a contribution to the failed dreams because people had no base to build their dreams up on.
The last point I would like to talk is the author John Steinbeck. I think he wanted to address there was a problem within society and that it could easily be overcome. When Steinbeck writes he seems to be writing in another time period looking at these problems therefore his opinions come across very strongly. Steinbeck uses Crooks to voice his opinions for example ‘they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black’. This tells us people would not be allowed to do things due to the prejudging (prejudice) of these minor characters which is the main problem in this time period. Lennie is deliberately put into the book so that the characters in the book would open up to him because of his mental struggles. An example of this would be when Curley’s wife opens up to Lennie and talks about her failed dream. ‘coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes’.
In conclusion the prejudice towards minor characters leaves them feeling lonely and isolated due to their separation in society. This then leads them to failing their dreams because they don’t have the confidence and self-belief. The depression also don’t let characters bond well together because the lack of money and the travelling for work. Society has changed massively today being as it wouldn’t be regarded acceptable to be prejudice towards people and insult people because of their gender, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality and other characteristics. In society today people mainly get along with each other even though everyone is different.
By Jack Martin.
Communication 2 Comments Paragraph 1- introduction
Paragraph 2- explore how Crooks is isolated from other people
‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long he’s with you. I tell ya’ ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.’
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 stink to me’
Paragraph 3- explore language which is used when crooks speaks
Crooks= ‘well s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?’
George= ‘me an’ lennie rollin’ up a stake’ ‘I might go in an’ set and have a shot, but I ain’t puttin’ out no two and a half’
paragraph 4- theme and historic content
Paragraph 5- Steinbeck
Paragraph 6-conclusion
Communication 1 Comment In the novel Of Mice and Men prejudice effects the minor characters by making them isolated from socialising with the other characters on the ranch. Prejudice is when people prejudge people generally because of their gender, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality and other characteristics. The prejudging of people leads these minor characters to feel lonely, frustrated and suppressed within expressing their emotions to other human beings. This leads these characters to doubt themselves which fundamentally doesn’t help to fulfil their dreams as well as the lack of money in the time of the depression. The way Steinbeck talks about society and isolation of people seems to be as if he living in a another time period, has an overview of what is going on. Steinbeck has published the book to show that society was broken and people felt isolated which wasn’t a productive or nice way to treat one and other. Steinbeck also produced the novel to show the problems of society because he wanted to overcome them and move on with time.