There were many characters in the novel Of Mice and Men whose problems were due to injustice. Some were lonely, some had broken dreams, and some were subjected to discrimination. Crooks, a stable buck, was the loneliest person on the ranch because he was excluded by the ranch hands. He was excluded from the group because he was the sole African-American and he was perceived as weak and resentful.
             Crooks lived alone in the repair shed because the ranch hands would not sleep in the presence of an African-American. The shed in which he lived was where they mended the harnesses for the horses. The ranch hands lived in the bunk house separate from Crooks. "Crooks said, 'I ain't wanted in the bunk house."' (Steinbeck 102) This statement emphasizes Crooks' segregation from the rest of guys because he was African-American. For this same reason, he was looked upon as a lower class person. Not only was Crooks isolated and disheartened, he also was crippled, and this also caused the other men to look down upon him.
             Crooks was deformed and therefore viewed as weak because of a physical injury he sustained in an accident when he was a child. When Crooks was little he was kicked in the back by a horse causing a spine deformity that would not allow full flexibility of his back. As a result, he could only complete various tasks and walked in a peculiar position with his body forming a shape similar to the capital letter L. Crooks was always left behind, at the ranch, when the ranch hands went into town. "Curley's wife said, 'They left all the weak ones here."'(77) The statement made by Curley's wife illustrates that Crooks along with Candy, who was missing a portion of his arm, and Lennie, who had a mental handicap, were considered undesirables. Crooks was an undesirable because he had a freak accident as a child which left him deformed.
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