How does crooks occupy his time when he is alone?

Answer 1

Crooks' loneliness can be seen as being different from the others because even though they are all victims of racial prejudice you can also argue that they all have something in common whereas crooks is completely isolated by the "Jim crow laws" which separate him from all white people and state that he must call them by Sir/Madam etc.

Also because they can all socialize and be together in the barn (they will not be completely isolated from all human life whereas crooks will spend all day alone in the barn. This can be shown when he almost starts to doubt his existence when he is wondering if everything is real or not (due to there being no one around to tell him whether he was asleep or not) this is backed up when he says "s'pose you couldn't go into the bunk and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that?" and ""A guy goes nuts it he ain't got nobody. Don't make a difference who the guy is, long's he's with you i tell ya" he cried "I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.""

It all shows that although the others are lonely as they have no one who is close to them, they all have each other and even though they are separated by prejudices there is nothing stopping them from being with one another. Crooks on the other hand is completely separated by the way people treat him and is made to feel like an outsider by society.

Answer 2

Crooks occupies his time when he is alone by reading books and magazines, tending to his own personal belongings, and sometimes playing horseshoes. Despite his solitude, he finds ways to keep himself occupied and pass the time.

Answer 3

In his private moments, when he is not working, Crooks does leather-working, reads books and magazines, and sometimes just sits and thinks.

Answer 4

crooks spends his time reading, looking after his back (rubbing ointment), tidying up his room (he was a proud man) and wishing he was with somebody