How does crooks treat lennie

He upsets Lennie simply because he can; this behavior of Crooks demonstrates the tendency of men who are too often alone to become mean and resentful. How is crooks cruel to Lennie? He plays a cruel game with Lennie, suggesting to him that George is gone for good. Only when Lennie threatens him with physical violence does he relent. Why is crooks so mean to Lennie at first?

You will notice that Crooks is very rude and hostile towards Lennie. Clearly, he does not appreciate the invasion of his privacy. Therefore, he is not accustomed to having somebody come into his room. At first, Crooks treats Lennie in the same way he himself is treated. Crooks is segregated from the rest of the workers because he is black.

Lennie becomes so angry that he hurls the dead puppy across the barn. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-estee. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that many times, a victim of loneliness will have a never-ending search to. Get Access. Read More. Though Crooks was born in California not like many Southern blacks who had migrated, he implies , he is still always made to feel like an outsider, even in his home state.

Crooks is painfully aware that his skin color is all that keeps him separate in this culture. This outsider status causes him to lament his loneliness , but he also delights in seeing the loneliness of others, perhaps because misery loves company.

When Crooks begins to pick on Lennie, suggesting George won't come home, we discover the slight mean streak that undoubtedly develops after being alone for so long. Lennie unwittingly soothes Crooks into feeling at ease, and Candy even gets the man excited about the dream farm , to the point where Crooks could fancy himself worthy and equal enough to be in on the plan with the guys. Crooks's little dream of the farm is shattered by Curley's wife's nasty comments, slotting the black man right back into his "place" as inferior to a white woman.

When Lennie visits him in his room, his reaction reveals this fact. He plays a cruel game with Lennie, suggesting to him that George is gone for good. Only when Lennie threatens him with physical violence does he relent. Crooks exhibits the corrosive effects that loneliness can have on a person; his character evokes sympathy as the origins of his cruel behavior are made evident.

Perhaps what Crooks wants more than anything else is a sense of belonging—to enjoy simple pleasures such as the right to enter the bunkhouse or to play cards with the other men.