As the story unfolds, it is evident that George resents the way he is held back from living a normal life by Lennie: " crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time- (Steinbeck 11).
Lennie is a strange character in the novel because of his mental illness that leaves him simple minded and unable to understand even the most uncomplicated ideas. George is the only one who Lennie talks to, although he doesn't always understand what George is talking about. Crooks, the only black man on the ranch, points this out when he states "Sometimes [George] talks, and you don't know what the hell he's talkin' about- (Steinbeck 70-71). One of the problems that Lennie has is that he causes harm without intent. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Lennie scared a girl into thinking he would harm her at the ranch he and George were at previously and they had to run. Lennie wasn't trying to cause a problem, but he got scared when the lady screamed and he held on to her. When Slim asks George if Lennie hurt the lady George replies: "Hell' no. He just scared her But never hurt her. He just wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time- (Steinbeck 42). Shades of this incident are evident throughout the novel when Lennie kills both the pup Slim gives him and Curley's wife. In a sense, Lennie is isolated by George, who won't allow Lennie to do a lot of things, like talk to Curley's Wife. George is the only friend Lennie has, but he often feels isolated even from him. "'Cause I can jus' as well go away, George, an' live in a cave- Lennie discloses at one of these times.
Even though George and Lennie are isolated in their own ways, they are also isolated together. They are each other's only friend. George tells Lennie "We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us- (Steinbeck 13-14). "Clinging to each other in their loneliness and alienation, George and his simple minded friend Lennie dream, as drifters will, of a place to call their own- (Smash275).
