How does Steinbeck demonstrate how harsh and unforgiving the Great Depression was using this character's lack of relationships?
Crooks is even more isolated than the other men. Crooks faces loneliness and discrimination, probably more because of his color than because of his past.
"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? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. 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" (80).
Crooks needs his job in a time where most men do not have a job because of the depression. Although the worst treatment of blacks was in the Southern States, California was still segregated.
