Analysis Int Crooks

In this extract, Crooks’ isolation from the ranch, and in turn society, is total and is mirrored by his possessions, ‘and scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about.’   Every object in his room, i.e. ‘the broken hame’, ‘tattered dictionary’, ‘mauled copy of the Californian civil code’; are either broken, like Crooks, or in the process of being mended. These possessions reiterate the idea that Crooks is forced into isolation due to his skin colour and being crippled. There is an irony to Crooks’ isolation, as it gives him privacy, something the other men can never have. However, this privacy is shared with his work: “On the wall by the window there were pegs on which hung broken harnesses in the process of being mended”.   The room is filled with the remains of his work, meaning that Crooks’ privacy is never truly private: it is always shared with his responsibilities and work.
Crooks’ potential is restricted and demeaned by his position, ‘his eyes...seemed to glitter with intensity.’ It appears that though Crooks is intelligent, as displayed by the ‘few dirty books’ in his room; he is destined to have the lowest status on the ranch, entirely down to his ethnicity.   People lack expectations of him, despite his obvious intelligence.   Crooks has grown, due to his forced isolation, to be a “proud aloof man” and he responds to solitude with dignity.   His room was “swept and fairly neat”, which shows his pride in his own possessions and acceptance in his situation. Instead of seeing his separation as a terrible fate, he views it as a chance for him to ‘keep his distance and demand that others kept theirs.’
It appears that Crooks is regarded as little more than the horses he tends to on the ranch, ‘In it a range of medicines, both for himself and the horses.’ This shows that Crooks is like an animal on the ranch, which is expanded by the fact that his bed is little more than a manger. Crooks’ room...