# Joel Marshall — There Is Confusion character guide

> Joel Marshall in There Is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Joel, old Joel, Old Joel

**First appearance:** 0003-i

## Snapshot

Born enslaved in Richmond, Joel Marshall became a celebrated New York caterer, yet still measures his life against the greatness he once dreamed of achieving.

## Who they are

Joel is the Marshall family's dignified patriarch, a man whose skill at feeding bank presidents and presidents has never quite satisfied the ambition kindled in him as a boy. He adores his daughter Joanna because she echoes that old hunger for greatness, and he pours into her the encouragement his own circumstances could never fully reward. His quiet ache between respectability and unrealized renown shapes the family's expectations and gives Joanna her first, most intimate model of striving.

## Relationships

### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall)

_family_

Joel is Joanna's father, a supportive but traditional figure who encourages her ambitions.

### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall)

_family_

Joel is Joanna's father, a supportive but traditional figure who encourages her ambitions.

### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall)

_family_

Joel is Joanna's father, a supportive but traditional figure who encourages her ambitions.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/i)

Joel, born a slave, sacrificed his own dreams of becoming a minister to care for his mother and built a successful catering business. He sees his own ambition reflected in Joanna.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/ii)

Joanna's father, a strong believer in her potential, he instills in her a sense of ambition and racial pride, using his own rise from poverty as an example.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/vi)

Joanna's father, who drills into her that final perfection is built on small intermediate perfections, influencing her disciplined approach to learning.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/ix)

Joel hires Maggie for his catering business, teaching her bookkeeping and trusting her with responsibilities, motivated by a desire to help the younger generation.

### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/x)

Joel is Joanna's father, who approves of Brian's relationship with Sylvia and considers moving to Harlem.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xiii)

Joel is one of the first ten colored men in Harlem to own an automobile, which he uses for transportation between home and business.

### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xx)

Mentioned as Joanna's father in the imagined newspaper notice of her suicide.

### [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxviii)

Drives Joanna home nightly from the theater and expresses that he had hoped for something different for her.

### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxv)

Indulges in deep reveries after Philip's death, and advises Maggie on her business plans.

### [XXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxvi)

Insists Peter and Joanna live in his house; is proud of Peter and often holds little Meriwether.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joel_marshall
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters