Life is known to throw all sorts of unwanted and unfair events into the life of every person on Earth. People have now just accepted the fact that life is unfair sometimes and there is nothing to do about it. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the theme of life being unfair is shown through George’s struggles with Lennie and the struggles Candy faces.
Throughout his life, George experiences the unfairness of life through his burden of having to take care of Lennie. Steinbeck illustrates this in the first chapter of the story when George erupts at Lennie after Lennie says he wants ketchup with his beans (Steinbeck 6). During this eruption George exclaims, “ God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work,
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In chapter three, Candy is confronted by Carlson about getting rid of Candy’s old dog simply because he is old and smells (Steinbeck 21-22). This confrontation illustrates the theme of life being unfair because it forces Candy to make a decision about killing his dog that he has had for a long time. A decision like this one is not something anyone wants to make and shows how life forces you to do things regardless of whether or not you want to do them. In that same chapter, Candy tells both George and Lennie about his missing hand that he lost while working at that very ranch (Steinbeck 29). Losing his hand while trying to do his job changes his whole life for the worse; he can no longer do the same things he used to do any is now much less useful. Candy did not plan to lose his hand, but life had other plans-- other unfair plans. Candy’s life on the ranch is a prime example of life being unfair to people regardless of who they are.
The theme of life being unfair is shown throughout John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men. George being stuck with Lennie and the events that have happened to Candy are just two examples of life’s unfairness to people in the story. The task of living is already hard enough,but life also being unfair to each person can make it much