Chapter 4

I chose this picture because it not only represents being different, but also being alone. In the picture, there is only one yellow ducky, and the rest are all black so he is different. He is feeling alone because all the black ducks have their backs turned to him, and he wants to go with them, but they are ignoring him.
Both being different and loneliness are a big themes in this book. The prejudice in the story can be showed by these two themes. Many characters are effected by this including Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife.
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In chapter 4, it talks about Crooks, the Negro stable buck, and how racism affects him. In the chapter, he is sitting in his room and Lennie walks in. Only Slim or the boss go into his room, and he says this is because he is black. He then tells Lennie about how when he was younger, and how he used to play with the white kids, but his daddy wasn't happy about that. And how as he got older, he realized that racism had become a problem in his life. Steinbeck really describes how racism has affected Crook's life, and how lonely it has made him.

I think Steinbeck really wanted to get his message out, and tell people what it used to and still is like to be affected by racism and prejudice. He really tells us what it was like for Crooks, and I can really feel what he is going through, and I feel really bad for him. But in the film, the director decided to play down the racism probably because it is a real problem, and people don't like to see movies when one of the conflicts is actually taking place. Instead, people just want to ignore the fact, or pretend that it isn't that bad. But the fact is that it isn't pretty, and sometime you don't even realize you are being prejudice towards someone. Instead, Gary Sinise decided to play up the loneliness of Curley's wife. This is probably because people wouldn't feel as bad about themselves, and they get the intention that this problem can easily be fixed. Also, with society today, people would rather see a movie about a women who is all alone, and sad, where we feel really bad for her compared to a movie about racism. But if it was a movie about racism, and how people are truly hurting someone inside, this usually makes the audience uncomfortable.

Chapter 4 is pretty different in the book compared to the movie. First of all, in the movie, it does not show when Crooks is explaining to Lennie about how racism affected him as a child. In the film, Candy and Curely's wife come into Crook's room. Candy sits down, and joins their conversation. Candy and Lennie also tell Crooks about their dream. Crooks gets interested, and asks if he can help out. Later on, Curely's wife comes in. She starts to talk a little bit about her loneliness, and asks what happened to Curely's hand. But the guys just want her to leave, not wanting to cause any trouble. In the movie Curely's wife is talking to Lennie and George about this. In the book, later on when Crooks tells her to leave, she threatens him and tells him that she can easily get him fired.

She replied by saying "nobody would listen to you and you know it." This really made me see how they don't fit it, and that that is true. Nobody would listen to any of them. Steinbeck really shows how left out and how different they all are. At the end of the chapter when Candy and Lennie are leaving, Crooks tells him to just forget about being involved with their dream. This made me realize how lonely Crooks really is. He thinks that everyone hates him, and I don't think he has much to live for. Earlier on, Curely's wife said, "They left all the weak ones here." And this just made me think of how all of them there was like a meeting of the left out people, or who are being descriminated against.