In literature, as in life, some people experience aloneness. In some cases, the person has to live apart from others. In "Of Mice and Men", the one character that really stands out as being truly lonely is Crooks, the old black stable hand.
Crooks gets his name from the shape of his back; hunched over, crooked, and crippled. He is forced to sleep in the stable with the animals, and isn't included in any of the men's leisure activities. When the other men go to town and only Lennie and Crooks stay behind, Lennie goes into Crooks room to talk to him. At first he tells him to go away, because whites aren't supposed to fraternize with the blacks, but eventually he lets him stay.
Crooks reminisces about how as a child he could play with other white children, but also mentions how even at that time, he felt alone. Now, as the only black worker on the ranch, he is forced to deal with the harsh realities of prejudice. At times his loneliness manifests itself in bitterness, like when he asks Lennie the hypothetical question "what if George never comes back?". Lennie, being as slow as he is, quickly gets very upset and it is then when Crooks backs down. It is then that he explains to Lennie what the loneliness he faces every day is like. "A guy goes nuts when he aint got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you . I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an" he gets sick," he tells Lennie. .
When Lennie begins talking about the farm he and George plan to get, Crooks reacts doubtfully and pessimistically. "Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan". I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no lan'. It's just in their head," he tells Lennie. .
Even as another visitor enters, Crooks tries to shield his pleasure with anger; "If everybody else is comin' in, you might just as well."After Candy enters and talks enthusiastically of the farm, Crooks shyly asks if he could be brought along, to do some of the harder work for them.
