Who is Lucy and Louis. from Last Exit to Brooklyn and what is their importance?

Lucy is a a neurotic who wants better for herself and her son. The Brooklyn estate is well beneath her and she hates seeing her son playing with what sees as the common Hispanic kids. Her loneliness is exaggerated by the fact she has no one she can to talk to about her problems. Her husband Louis is one of the better men in the novel, but still provides her with little to help. Louis spends most of his studying to become a repairman and the only thing he seems to want from Lucy is sex.