Foil

Character Role Analysis

Eddie/Old Man

Eddie and the Old Man are kind of two peas in a pod, since they're both pretty insistent about keeping their own fantasy worlds alive… to the point where they seem to believe their own lies.

The Old Man clues us into this similarity when he calls Eddie a "fantasist" and then starts talking about how he himself likes to believe that he's married to Barbara Mandrell. Of course, Eddie ultimately tells the truth about his family's past (i.e., his mother's suicide), something the Old Man seems totally disinclined to do—in fact, he gets angry at Eddie and May for doing.

Watching Eddie and the Old Man interact definitely clarifies the ways in which Eddie is a chip off the old block… and also, too, the ways he's actually pretty different.