Comparing The Human Condition In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

If something good happened to you and you were acting happy in public, how would other people see and interpret your emotions? People's’ reactions really highlight the human condition and give us new views on it. A book that really displays this is the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. A theme that I found to identify and shape the human condition is: Throughout Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men, he pushes to show that we humans and our different perspectives shape how we treat certain people, whether with kindness and empathy, dislike and loathing, or even confusion and ignorance. This theme is shown multiple times throughout the story, with different perspectives conflicting the most notable time being after George shoots Lennie and Carlson doesn’t know why George is distraught.

The first time this theme can really be seen is when Carlson offers to shoot Candy’s dog and many of the farmhands in the bunkhouse side with Carlson. A quote from this section that shows conflicting perspectives is: “‘Maybe it’d hurt him,’ he suggested. ‘I don’t mind takin’ care of him.’ Carlson said, ‘The way I’d shoot him,
There are lots of us that are confused and clueless because they were ignorant, but a few that are willing to show empathy and compassion, because they truly care. The theme “Throughout Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men, he pushes to show that we humans and our different perspectives shape how we treat certain people, whether with kindness and empathy, dislike and loathing, or even confusion and ignorance,” really highlights the human condition, that lots of us are showing the third perspective to situations every day, and that a select few are showing the first. The human condition is essentially shaped by our perspectives. How we see things is determined by how we think and act. That is how perspectives affect the human