Crooks also represents a different sort of common laborer than do the other male characters. He does not seem to be a migrant worker (someone who moves from job to job). Judging from Candy's stories about Crooks and some of Crooks' comments about his own disillusionment, he has been at the Tyler Ranch for quite a while. When one does not have to move from job to job, "home" to "home," carrying his "bindle," then it is easier to keep things that he might not normally hang on to.
Similarly, because Crooks does not have any real relationships with the other men, he does not have an opportunity to trade his books or other possessions with them. His isolation makes it necessary for him to form a bond of sorts with things rather than people; so during a time period when many Americans had very little, Crooks clings desperately to his possessions because he has nothing/no one else to cling to.
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