Foil

Character Role Analysis

Toussaint L'Ouverture

Interspersed with the tales of Shorty are tidbits from Toussaint's rise to power in the Haitian Revolution. He acts as a foil to our main guy because, different though they may seem at first, the two are really similar. Let's take a look: They both come from troubled pasts, stand up to their oppressors, and take a bunch of risky moves.

Through these similarities, however, key differences emerge. It's in Toussaint's moral high ground and search for justice (instead of revenge)—a clarity of purpose Shorty seems to lack—that we learn how these two are more than mere copies of one another.