What does George think of Lennie?

In Of Mice and Men, George is
Lennie's friend, his co-worker, his guardian, his conscience, and his surrogate
brother/father.  More, he is his loving mercy killer.  He eases Lennie's pain and
suffering after their shared dream has gone awry.  In short, George loves Lennie on more
than one level.

Unlike the other migrant workers who travel
alone and view the world as a "me" versus society ("Guys like us, that work on ranches,
are the loneliest guys..."), George and Lennie travel together, and George uses "we" to
describe their relationship.

The Boss and Curley are
distrustful of the traveling pair.  The Boss thinks George is stealing Lennie's money,
but George says:

readability="5">

I knowed his Aunt Clara. She
took him when he was a baby and raised him
up.

And George says to
Curley:

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[George] "We travel
together."

[Curley] "Oh, so it's that
way."

George was tense and motionless.  "Yeah, it's that
way."

Later, when describing
the American dream, George defines it as shared and collective, including such
lower-classes as the mentally-challenged (Lennie) and the physically-handicapped
(Candy).  In this way, George is like ideal America: inclusive, pluralistic, and
affirmative.