Treatment Towards Crooks

In part four of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, I noticed how different Crooks' living situation and treatment is compared to the other men on the ranch. As Lennie makes his way into Crooks' bunk in the harness room, Crooks becomes very hesitant to let him in.  Since Crooks is black, he has a separate bunk away from the other white men on the ranch. Most of those white men don't have any interest in hanging around in a negros room. Therefore, Crooks is not used to company in his bunk and has an automatic instinct to be suspicious and stay secluded. As he lightens up towards Lennie,  words started to flow from his mouth. Even though Crooks knows that Lennie is not truly listening to what he has to say, he continues to talk because he is desperate to interact with another human. As he explained his family story and how there was not another black person on the ranch, I began to realize how extremely lonely he must be. Even though he is able to keep more personal items and have more privacy, Crooks' living situation keeps him isolated from any other human interactions. Because of his isolation, he is the first person on the ranch that is able to understand why George would want to travel around with Lennie. Crooks enviously explains to Lennie that " George can tell him (you) screwy things, and it don't matter. It's just the talking. It's just bein' with another guy." (71). You can tell that Crooks is jealous of the relationship Lennie has with George because he has no one to ever keep him company.
When Crooks lets Candy join him in his bunk, I could tell that he truly enjoys the company even though he tries to act angry. He begins to have a true conversation with the men and slowly lets down his guard. Crooks noticeably regains his self confidence as he realizes that Candy and Lennie actually enjoy being around him even though he is black.  When Curly's wife comes in and makes rude remarks about the men, Crooks stands up for them, but is swiftly shut down by Curly's wife. It is apparent that the new company from Candy and Lennie gave Crooks confidence that made him forget how easily Curley's wife could get him in trouble. The moment Curley's wife is threatened she is quick to take advantage of the fact that he is black.  To make sure that Crooks stays quiet about her visit to his bunk she intimidates him by saying "I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint even funny."(81). Once Candy backs him up by saying he would accuse her of "framing" Crooks, Curley's wife has no other come back but to say that nobody would listen to them. Curley's wife's responses to the men's threats prove how harshly Crooks is treated compared to Candy and Lennie.
By watching Crooks' response to the men's company and Curley's wife's threats I came to a conclusion that Crooks has a extremely lonely and harsh life.