Kunjal Parajuli

Mrs. Eaton

9 Honors Literature and Composition 1

6 May 2018

Interview Connection

For my project, I interviewed my uncle, Puran Pradhan. He had to live in a refugee camp

from the ages of 14 and 31. When he came to the U.S.A, he built himself up from unemployment

and 18 dollars in his pocket to a stable job and house. His story of hardship is similar to the

experiences of characters in the books The Book Thief and Of Mice and Men. My uncle's early

life, for example, has many similarities to Max Vanderburg's experiences in The Book Thief.

Both my uncle and Max are forced to leave their home and friends by a government persecuting

them. His poor economic situation in the refugee camp, in addition, is alike to George Milton's

and Lennie Small's miniscule wages in Of Mice in Men. His adolescence was much like both the

social injustices against Max, and George and Lennie's poverty.

My uncle and Max Vanderburg were both forced into terrible circumstances at a young

age. Both were looked down by the elites in their home country. Max is a Jew living in Nazi

Germany: a country in which, in that period of time, had a government that sought to murder all

the Jews they could. My uncle and his family were discriminated by his country for being a

specific race. For example, while Max is being forced to march, he is whipped mercilessly by a

German soldier for briefly stopping. Only one person attempts to stop his abuse. Most Germans

look at him with at least disdain, simply because he is a Jew. Many Bhutanese at the time,

similarly, looked down on the Nepali's in their country for something they were born as. Both

my uncle and Max, in summary, were discriminated against in their birth country. In addition,
they are both forced out of their homes. Max is found by authorities while going to his

hometown and is made to travel to Dachau, a concentration camp. Max does not want to leave

where he grew up. Bhutanese authorities made my uncle and his family leave their home

country, and they had to live in a refugee camp on the border of Bhutan and India; and unable to

go back to their country. Both Max and my uncle were painfully ripped from their normal lives

and situated in a foreign place. The two, in conclusion, share a life of discrimination and dismal

relocation.

My uncle's life in the refugee camp can also be compared to George and Lennie's life in

the novel Of Mice and Men. They all received a miniscule amount of money for the work they

did. While talking with Lennie, George mentions that at the end of the month he has "fifty

bucks" (Steinback 6). The low wages make it hard for George and Lennie to support healthy,

stable, lives. My uncle, likewise, earned around $45 per month at the most in the refugee camp.

Him and his family had to rely on an outside source for food. Both men had to survive and

support others with below $5 per day; they were both living in extreme poverty. Their poor

economic positions, in summary, made it nearly impossible for either of the men to live a

sustainable life. The men, to conclude, were all struggling to manage on an extremely small

salary.

Puran Pradhan's past experiences, conclusively, can be compared to both Max

Vanderburg's, and George and Lennie's stories. My uncle and Max were both detested by people

in their home country and forced to leave it. George and my uncle are also similar in that they

both were payed much less than what is necessary to subsist oneself properly. The similarities

between the story of a man facing discrimination in the 1990s and similar struggles people faced
in the 1930s and 1940s emphasizes the point of this project, that the social injustices from the

past have not quite been as eliminated as the public likes to think.
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