Character Analysis
The father of Lena's baby, Joe Brown is a rakish kind of guy with little moral fiber. He boozes, gambles, and bootlegs, and he doesn't seem to have any sense of ethics or responsibility to anyone – he gets Lena pregnant and abandons her (twice), and he rats out Joe Christmas to get the $1,000 reward. This guy is a bad friend and an even worse boyfriend. He operates as a kind of foil to the loyal and hard-working Byron Bunch.