Foil

Character Role Analysis

Stacey Logan and T.J. Avery; Papa and Mr. Granger

Stacey Logan and T.J. Avery

Stacey and T.J. are the same age, go to the same school, and run with the same crowd (at least in the beginning), but they couldn't be more different. Where Stacey is hard working, T.J. is lazy. Where Stacey is honest, T.J. is a lying liar. Where Stacey is a true friend, T.J. ends up being one of the fair weather variety.

But here's our question: is it because Stacey was just born better? Or was his family able to give him advantages that T.J.'s poor, uneducated, sharecropping parents never could?

Papa Logan and Mr. Granger

Papa and Mr. Granger are both obsessed with their land, but that's where any similarity stops. Papa is willing to use his land to help others (by considering using it to back others' credit), while Mr. Granger is selfish and only wants it for financial reasons—and to prevent the Logans from having independence.