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Social Outcasts in Of Mice and Men
In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, a variety of
characters are present, although, not all fit in. Two of the strongest
examples are Crooks, and Curley’s Wife. Throughout the novel, they are
portrayed as social outcasts in whatever they did. Another good example is
Lennie, mainly because of his mental condition. All three are treated in a
cruel manner at one point or another in the novel.
Crooks is an older black man with a crooked back, who lives by himself in
the barn. He was asked not to bother the whites, and to stay out of their
way, and so therefore he requests that no one bother him. Being the only
African American on the ranch, the reader begins to question racism and
prejudice. Were the others racist toward Crooks? Not necessarily, they just
didn’t allow him to hang out in the bunkhouse with them. At one point in the
novel, Crooks talks of how lonely he gets, and how a man goes insane without
anyone to talk with. He says this to Lennie:
“”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? S’pose
you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till
it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs
somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make
no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a
guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (pg.’s 72-73)
Even if nobody treated him like an outcast, or in other words called him a
nigger and pushed him around, he had to feel like one. The above quote
explains what Crooks felt loneliness could do to a man.
The other men on the ranch also treat Curley’s wife, who is never given a
name, poorly. She is always looking for attention and flirting with them,
and this turns them off immensely. The fact that she is the only woman in