compare and contrast Lennie and Crooks

Lennie and crooks have similarities. They both remain on the outside of society. Lennie's mental challenges keep him isolated, except for George, and Crooks skin colour keeps him isolated. When Lennie comes by crooks's shed, Crooks is initially hostile, "You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room." Both men, however, crave the company and begin talking. The similarities between the two end with their isolation. Crooks understands his own persecution while Lenny merely thinks like a six year old. Crooks understands how Lennie is better off than him, "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? " Lennie does not comprehend his own loneliness or the nature of isolation. Crooks understands it all too well, "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, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."