Foil

Character Role Analysis

Norma Jean and Leroy Moffatt

A foil is a type of sword used in fencing. It's a good thing this isn't the kind of foil we're talking about here, or poor Leroy might have ended up shish-kabobbed as Norma Jean shouts "Touche!"

In the less messy arena of literary terms, foils are two characters who are opposites; each is defined in contrast to the other. Norma Jean and Leroy Moffatt are about as yin and yang as you can get: Norma Jean is active, goal-oriented, focused on the future, and interested in new experiences, while Leroy is passive, aimless, rooted in the past, and prefers what's familiar. They say opposites attract, but that doesn't mean they'll stick together.