The Predatory Nature of Humans

In part four of the book I was drawn to the predatory nature of the characters, especially Crooks. When the rest of the men on the ranch are gone, Lennie goes to Crook's room. When Crooks sees Lennie standing in the doorway his predatory nature kicks in. Crooks immediately stops rubbing his back and tells Lennie that, "'You got no right to come in my room"' (68). I think that Crooks stopped rubbing his back so that he did not appear weak, this is something that animals do in the wild so that they do not get attacked by other animals. It was also like he was marking his ground by saying that Lennie was not welcome. Later on in the book Curley's wife comes into the room and asks what happened to Curley's hand. The men answer by saying it got caught in a machine, they were looking out for Lennie. They knew that Lennie could get in a lot of trouble if Candy's wife found out the truth so they stuck up for him just like animals stick up for their packs.