In Steinbeck's book, "Of Mice and Men" Lennie and George face many problems due to many a reasons i.e. Having no money, problems in their past lives, being in the depression and not having any work and now we have only just scratched the surface of what is to become of them and what is inevitable.
Lennie and George face hard times due to Lennie's inability to have any true thoughts as he is a five year old boy trapped in the vice of adulthood, whilst George has been the Mother and the Farther of Lennie's forever torment, covering him with the cloak of compassion as Lennie states "BecauseĀ
because I got you to look after me." So this is showing how man has the need to have a relationship for each other and dependence for one another.
Lennie and George are constantly finding work from place to place, they cling to the naive hope of one day owning a farm of their own and living "off the fatta the lan'." The tragic loss of their dream is the foundation of Steinbeck's homage to the ancient theme of innocence lost.
Lennie is the primary personification of innocence in the novel. He is continually referred to as animal-like: he "walked heavily, dragging his feet a bit, the way a bear drags his paws" and "he drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse." When George complains about having to care for him, Lennie speaks of leaving to "go off in the hills and find a cave," to live like an animal would. The animal metaphor illustrates the primitive nature of Lennie's mind, a state that is often equated with innocence, and although he is always described as gentle, it gives him a subtle air of hulking danger, foreshadowing the damage he is to cause. Lennie being in this animal like state has caused more and more problems for which George always has to try and fix.
During the book both Lennie and George have always been thinking to big, hoping to live "off the fatta lan'." Which was an insufficiently thought out idea. They had done this...