Foil

Character Role Analysis

Paul and Tony

You could say that Tony is the Bizarro World version of Paul, except for the evil part (Tony's totally not evil). Think about it: here you have two gay teen boys. One's well adjusted and loves life while the other's depressed and hates life; one has a boyfriend and the other just dreams of love and mopes; one has accepting parents and the other decidedly does not. In other words, Tony's who Paul might be without the gay-friendly environment.

On the other hand, Paul keeps Tony hopeful (some might even say alive) by showing him what the world can be like. Tony sees the openly gay kids at Paul's school having healthy relationships with each other and their parents. Paul shows Tony the truth so many LGBTQ teens need to hear, which is that if your real family doesn't support you, you can always choose a different one.