Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Discrimination, or exclusion from a society or group based on race, age, or sex, is a feeling no human wants to endure or experience. On a cellular level, humans are social beings who thrive when in contact with others, and suffer when left out because of something unchangeable, such as a person's skin color. In the 1930’s black men had not yet earned their rights to be seen as equals to white men, so many black men were excluded from white male groups. A character in the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Crooks faces many of these allegations because of his ethnicity. Crooks faces unfairness, and by protecting himself, he illustrates the exclusion placed on him from the group, who are mainly white men, which is ultimately because of the discrimination practiced in this world. …show more content…
He's proud he is able to kick people out of the shed if he desires, which most black people can’t do. The literary device used is imagery, which is used when Lennie attempts to enter Crooks’ room. The tough, bold description of Crooks shows how proud he is of his private space when it other men try entering the shed. The unfairness Crooks has to endure, especially with no other black people around, causes Crooks to become very jealous of the other men on the farm. When Crooks and Lennie are talking in Crooks’ room Crooks starts teasing Lennie, he apologizes, then continues, “‘Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? … A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody’“(72). The exclusionary behavior demonstrated towards Crooks is ultimately because of his ethnicity, and since the entire group living on the farm are all white men Crooks is left out of many things. This