Class Act- Character foil: Michael and Sonny

     Michael and Sonny come from the same family but end up taking different routes in life; in fact almost opposite paths in life. At first, Michael chose to take the life of a normal person; going to the military, not getting involved with the family business, but then, he chose to take the life his brother, Sonny, was taking because of what had happened to his father. Sonny chose to take the life of a member of organized in the first place. They are both qualified and one of them is most likely to take on the role of the next don after their father. Sonny is a character foil for Michael, their actions and choses have made them different.

     The personalities of Michael and Sonny are quite different to start off with. Michael, as we have seen in the movie is more calm, quite, knows what to do in dangerous situations and deals with situations less violently than Sonny. It seems like his mind is built for the maifa business more than Sonny's is. The Godfather and Tom Hagen both attack a situation or solve a problem with calmness and quietness (not yelling all the time). Sonny, on the other hand, usually deals with situations by yelling and getting all mad etc. Usually, people involved with organized crime deal with things in a somewhat calm matter, besides shooting people. When Tom Hagen was talking with Woltz and persuading him to give Jonny Fontane the movie, Tom was the one that was calm when Woltz was loud.
      Michael has met two scarlet women when Sonny has met only one: Kay, which does not even count because Michael introduced her to him. Michael will get or has already got either help or some downfall from these two women when Sonny did not. This could either help Michael or reduce his chances of being the next don.
       Michael and Sonny could be very different but they also have many similarities within them. These similarities give them both the potential to be the next don.