Foil

Character Role Analysis

Black Beauty and Ginger

Opposites attract, right? If you're looking for a matched pair, you're not going to find one in Beauty and Ginger. In fact, it seems like these two are set up to be opposites in many ways, making their friendship all the more poignant.

Black and chestnut, one with a star and one with a stripe, they even stand out physically as very different animals. Ginger's feisty, irritable personality is in direct contrast to Beauty's gentle disposition—and it's all due to nature vs. nurture. Ginger is set up as a foil to Beauty to show that mistreatment in young horses results in personality problems once they're grown, and that a lack of love and kindness causes a horse to become distrustful of humans. Because underneath it all, Ginger is every bit as sweet as Beauty—she just has a harder time showing it.