What does Lennie contribute to his frienship with George in Of Mice and Men?John Steinbeck, author

While George complains in the first section of Of Mice and
Men,

"I could
get along so easy and so nice if I didn't have you on my tail.  I could live so easy and
maybe have a girl"

toward the
end of this same section, he amends his words,

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"With us it ain't like that.  We got a future. 
We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.  We don't have to sit in no bar
room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go.  If them other guys
gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn.  But not
us.

For Steinbeck,
who idealized male friendships, the frienship of Lennie and George portrays the way to
overcome the terrible loneliness that pervades their world.  In addition to having a
friendship with Lennie, George is also protected by the strong Lennie as well
as enriched by Lennie's presence since, as a child-like man, he is the keeper of the
dream of owning their own ranch, he it is who makes the idea of having a future
possible.  For, George merely recites the dream to comfort Lennie, but he repeats it so
many times and invites old Candy into it until it become a real possibility.  Once
Lennie dies, however, the dream dies, too.  Old Candy knows this as he looks down at the
dead wife of Curley:

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"You done it, di'n't you?  I s'pose you're glad. 
Ever'body knowed you'd mess things
up."