BY DANIEL RUSSELL How many times have you heard one of your English teachers say "...and he/she is a foil character to the main character"? Have you ever wondered what "foil" even means? If you have, then read on!
A foil character is simply a character that brings out certain traits in the main character. The foil character is meant to contrast the main character in a novel so that certain qualities in the main character can be brought out. FOR EXAMPLE: In the book "A Tale of Two Cities", by Charles Dickens, Charles Darnay is a foil to Sydney Carton. Although they are very similar to each other, they have completely different characters at the beginning of the book. By the end of the book, however, Carton's interactions with Darnay change him as a person, because he sees the faults in his own life reflected in Darnay's. Think of a foil character as a complimentary color relationship - for example, red and green. Red brings out the color green like no other color can. Likewise, a foil character can bring out the characteristics of the main character like no other can.
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April 2017
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