Joe Farkas

Joe Farkas is a Brooklyn Jew who has moved to the South to work for Adolph at the bedding company. Joe never went to college, but according to Sunny, he is "very bright." Proud of his heritage, Joe is surprised to meet a family with no real sense of Jewish identity. Unlike the majority of the characters in the play, Joe manifests concern for the Jews in Europe, not simply because he has relatives there but because he feels a bond with his coreligionists. Joe is extremely sensitive to the prejudice that the Levys hold toward him—and any Eastern European Jews. When he finds out that the Standard Club does not allow his "kind" of Jew to belong, he leaves the dance and Sunny. He also accuses Sunny of "Jew hater talk." However, he comes to regret his hard words and effects a reconciliation with...