Character Analysis
Griffin's buddy… kind of. When Sterling Williams helps Griffin integrate into black society, we assumed that they would be together forever. He's a nice, chill, World War II veteran that Griffin meets while getting his shoes shined. Without him, we're not so sure that Griffin's transition would have gone so smoothly.
But this isn't a buddy movie, so we don' t see him again after Griffin gets tired of shining shoes for a living. That's too bad for Sterling, but his sudden appearance and disappearance lets us ask an important question: where the heck are Griffin's friends?
He seems like a popular enough guy, but Griffin doesn't make any long-lasting relationships during his whole experiment. Even though people opened their homes to him, he doesn't seem to get too attached. We have two theories about this. One is that Griffin sees the experiment as separate from his "real" life. So the people he meets are not his "real" friends. The other theory is that Griffin has to move around a lot, so he doesn't have a lot of time to make lasting connections.
Which one do you think is right?