The youngest brother Joseph is loved by his father over his other brothers, this was perplexing to them. Even more insulting to the brothers were the dreams that Joseph had the gall to recite. Clearly Joseph isn't very smart. His brothers sold him into slavery whereupon Joseph earned the respect of Potiphar. Curiously, being a slave wasn't so bad for Joseph, because the Lord was with him, even as he was thrown is jail, somehow the warden decides Joseph shouldn't be stuck in a cell and instead makes him responsible for the jail. Joseph becomes the Pharaoh's second in command eventually.
What is important to note is that God is with Joseph every step of the way, and the dreams that Joseph had were not something to brag about but a prophecy that fortold his rise to power. The rise to power that was destined to occur, that happened because his brothers were jealous, and happened because they wouldn't kill him, and most of all, it happened, so that during the seven years of famine, many many people would not die.
The point of the Joseph narrative isn't to show how generous the Pharaoh is, or to explain how one fifth of all crop yield belongs to the Pharaoh, but to show how God was a good god to Jacob by favoring his descendants and honoring the covenant. The theme of the youngest son is the favored son continues through Jacob and then to Joseph and his sons. Perhaps this is a pattern that continues long into the future. The themes are, the youngest son is the glorious one, the Lord will watch over and guide the Jews, and Jacob's sons create the twelves tribes of Israel. The generosity of the Pharaoh is unbelievable, but not the point.
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