Foil

Character Role Analysis

Coalhouse Walker and Booker T. Washington

There is a fundamental difference between Coalhouse and Booker T. Washington, and it's this: Washington believes in peaceful progress for blacks, and Coalhouse is at a point where he believes that progress and respect are necessary, and that respect won't come through always turning the other cheek.

Father and Tateh

Father is alienated in his own country, while Tateh, an immigrant, learns an emerging industry and becomes a filmmaker. Father is from the old school and old money, and would like the world to stay as it was in the 19th century, while Tateh is a self-made man who believes in progress. We're not surprised when Father dies and Mother ends up with Tateh.