Later, the desperate, ""fallen"" unwed mother (Edna Purviance) reappeared, after having becoming wealthy, and sought o regain custody and get the child back through social welfare workers in a heartwrenching, melodramatic moment.The 1940s boxing champion/bum blindly, obtusely, and stupidly inflicts wounds upon himself (mostly outside the ring in his personal and marital life with sibling rivalry, obsessive and irrational jealousy, and domestic abuse) while he also legally brutalizes opponents in the ring...and it""s time for every man to jump in and get busy! Look at your brother! See how he""s putting his shoulder to he wheel! The country""s at war! There""s no room in my house for idlers! You""ll do something or.He dismisses the idea of aking a dishwasher job.Low on money, tries to subsist on coffee and crackers covered with ketchup.Talking into a mirror in an underground subway tunnel, he resolves to degrade himself: "You know what you gotta do cowboy?" Outside a movie theatre on 42nd Street showing a black-and-white science fiction film, he hires himself out to a gay student, and during their sexual encounter in the darkened theatre, he experiences bizarre images of having sex with Annie, as she tells him: "You""re the only one, Joe".