What do George and Lennie have that other working men do not have?

This story is set during the Great Depression (1929-39). It was difficult to find and secure work, so men had to travel or do what they could to get jobs. George and Lennie are migrant workers. This was typical of ranch workers as many of them would have to move to other areas to find jobs. More than often, such workers would usually travel alone. Going alone and having no relationship or familial restrictions and...

This story is set during the Great Depression (1929-39). It was difficult to find and secure work, so men had to travel or do what they could to get jobs. George and Lennie are migrant workers. This was typical of ranch workers as many of them would have to move to other areas to find jobs. More than often, such workers would usually travel alone. Going alone and having no relationship or familial restrictions and obligations made it easier to move about. There was nothing to tie a man down. It was a lonely life. 

George occasionally complains that Lennie holds him back for these reasons. Going alone, George would be lonely but he would be freer to move to different places. But the friendship they have is what sets them apart from other workers. This outweighs the freedom that George would have on his own.

Lennie delights in hearing about the dream of their own farm but also in hearing about the bond of their friendship. He repeatedly asks George to tell him about these things. Of the friendship and how this makes them different from everyone else, George says: 

Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. The don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake . . . 

George adds that such lonely men having nothing to look forward to. Lennie prods George to go on. George says that he and Lennie are different because they have each other to talk to. Therefore, they don't have to waste all of their money (stake) at a bar with no place to go. Their friendship bonds them together and they use this bond to keep dreaming about the farm. This also sets them apart from the other workers. They have (a dream of) a future.