How does Brownfield follow in his father's footsteps in Part III of the novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland?

In Part III, Brownfield feels powerless to "save his children from slavery" because "they did not even belong to him," he follows his father's example by becoming an alcoholic and brutalizing his wife Mem. Projecting his own self-hatred on her, Brownfield accuses Mem of infidelity (while confident of her faithfulness), beats her regularly, and forces her to give up school teaching for domestic service. He even humiliates her into speaking the dialect of "a hopeless nigger," intentionally debasing her to his level to relieve his sense of inferiority.