Lafeyette and Pharoah
These two brothers are the victims of circumstance. Their mother was 14 when she was first impregnated by their father, a man who she quickly learned was an addict using serious drugs. When she asks him to stop, he refuses, but they are a family nonetheless. These two brothers are the youngest siblings of four, and one might even say they were openly preferred by their mother. She wants them to escape the gang violence and police violence that define their life in poverty.
Alex Kotlowitz
This is the real author, the journalist who followed the Rivers family, learning about their life and reporting on their poverty and the challenges they face. There were two older children in the family who did not participate in Kotlowitz's story, so he mainly focused on the younger two who LaJoe raised hoping they would escape poverty.
LaJoe Rivers
This is the matriarch, and the primary case study of Kotlowitz's reporting. Motherhood came to LaJoe quickly, at the young age of 14. Having been raised in poverty herself, she was unsure about life, and she really liked Paul when she met him, but after coupling up, she learned that he was a drug user and a hardcore addict.
Paul Rivers
This man is the one who impregnated his wife at the young age of 14. After have two kids and having a hellish time trying to raise them under the enormous pressure of money problems and drug abuse problems and untreated mental health issues, he and LaJoe have two more sons, LaFeyette and Pharoah.
