Of Mine and Men- an Allegory of Discrimination

"In the end antiblack, antifemale, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing- antihumanism." Discrimination is something that our society still battles. In the days of John Steinbeck, discrimination was a much larger issue. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings forward the issue of discrimination. His character, Crooks, is an allegory of the discrimination against blacks during his time. John Steinbeck uses Crooks to display how blacks felt about discrimination and how they were often mistreated.

Due to all of the degradation that the black population suffered through, some even began to justify it. Crooks is one of those people, "If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it." Crooks is stating that if he says something or accuses a white person of something nobody would believe him because he is black, and he is right. As John Steinbeck observed, during this time in history black people were not taken seriously, therefore Crooks is being truthful about what is going on during this time. "This is just a nigger talkin', a busted-back nigger." Crooks has truly began to believe that he is not equal in rights with a white person. Along with believing that he is not worthy, discrimination has also taken his chance of having company, "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black... 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." Crooks feels truly alone in this world and wants Lennie to feel his pain. A lot of black men during this time period felt the same way that Crooks does because discrimination had separated them from the rest of society. Crooks' relation to discrimination is an allegory of how black men during John Steinbeck's time were also feeling.

Black people during this time were often separated from white people both literally and figuratively. In this case Crooks is separated from the white men literally because he lives in the stables with the horses, "Crooks the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn." The symbolism in Crooks' living arrangements shows that Crooks was often treated as an animal and was as important as one. This goes for some black men in other work places during this time. Another example of Crooks being separated from living with the white men is, "I ain't wanted in the bunk house, you ain't wanted in my room." Crooks feels as if nobody wants him because of the degradation that he is put through like most black men during this time. It's ironic that in Crooks' room there is a well-worn copy of the California civil code, "And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil

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