In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, what does Crooks own?

John Steinbeck does not characterize most of his characters by what they own, but he chooses to characterize Crooks by describing most of this man's possessions. Crooks does not have a room of his own but sleeps in the harness room, a little lean-to shed beside the barn.

Crooks' bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung.

Most of the paraphernalia in the harness room belong to the ranch and are used on the horses. Crooks has medicine bottles for himself mixed with medicine bottles for the animals. His personal possessions are scattered about the room. Steinbeck explains that Crooks has accumulated more personal possessions than the other men because he was more permanent. In one paragraph the author offers a fairly complete inventory of the things Crooks owns.

Crooks possessed several pairs of shoes, a pair of rubber boots, a big alarm clock and a single-barreled shotgun. And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. There were battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk. A pair of large gold-rimmed spectacles hung from a nail on the wall above his bed.

The reader gets the impression that Crooks collects things that other men have thrown away or left behind. The shoes and rubber boots probably belonged to others and may be in poor condition. A big wind-up, loud-ticking alarm clock could be purchased in a drugstore in those days for one dollar. No doubt Crooks got the magazines after everybody in the bunkhouse had read them. The "dirty books" were not pornographic but simply in dirty condition from much handling by workmen with unwashed hands. Many books could be purchased brand-new in Depression days for one dollar, but Crooks probably got these after they had been left behind or thrown away. They are important to him just because they are possessions. Everybody likes to have a few possessions in his or her home. Crooks evidently does a lot of reading because he is forced to spend so much of his time alone. The men will not even let him come inside the bunkhouse because of his race. There is no telling where Crooks got the single-barreled shotgun. Steinbeck may mention it only because the men commandeer it when they are getting ready to go after Lennie. The shotgun and the spectacles are the only items with any value. Crooks probably gets a small salary--but not fifty dollars a month like the other men. He probably bought the glasses of the display rack at a drugstore because his eyes were getting weak and the lighting in the harness-room is dim. He may have bought the shotgun just to have it on hand in case he should ever need it for self-protection. He not only leads a wretched but a somewhat precarious existence.