Foils can show the opposite personalities of people. These foils appear in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This essay will prove that Kotler and Pavel are foils. Lieutenant Kotler and Pavel are foils because of different levels of strength, bravery and kindness.
Kotler and Pavel are foils because of their dissimilarities in strength. Intentionally, Pavel is a physically weak character. When Kotler came over to Bruno’s house at Out-With for dinner and as “Pavel came in with the plates, Bruno couldn’t help but notice that his hands were shaking slightly under the weight of them. And when stepped back to his usual position he seemed to sway on his feet and had to press a hand against the wall to steady himself.” (Boyne 143). Pavel
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is unable to do ordinary activities, such as carry plates or stand, demonstrating his weakness. On the contrary, Kotler is a physically strong character. Bruno walked outside to ask Kotler a favour, but he noticed that “His arms were surprisingly tanned and he had the kind of muscles that Bruno wished he had himself.” (Boyne 71). Bruno noticed that Kotler is surprisingly well fit and has large muscles. This idea of Kotler and Pavel being foils is also shown through their acts of bravery. Pavel is a very brave man. During the event that Bruno has fallen off his tyre swing, he looked up and “saw Pavel coming quickly towards him, and only when he arrived did he feel confident enough to let the woozy feeling that was surrounding him take over completely”. ( Boyne 79) When Pavel did this, he took a big risk helping the injured Bruno. If he got caught by one of the Nazi soldiers Pavel would have gotten killed. Instead, Kotler is coward. At one point in the book, Kotler is over at Bruno’s for dinner, he was acting strange because Mother and Father were questioning about his dad, until he said “ ‘ where did he go?’ he asked. ‘I beg your pardon, Herr Commandant?’ asked Lieutenant Kotler, even though Father had spoken in perfectly clear voice.” (Boyne 77 (online version)). During this scene, Kotler is starting to get a little scared because Mother and Father are questioning about his Dad, so he is getting a little afraid as if father is going to do something to him. Throughout this book we have seen Kotler and Pavel being foils because of their differences in strength and bravery.
Now they will be seen through their acts of kindness. Kotler is a very insolent character. Bruno asked Kotler if he could have a tyre, so Kotler yelled at Pavel and he “spoke to him insolently, despite the fact that he was young enough to be his grandson”. (Boyne 76). This quote is stating that Kotler can be really nasty and insolent towards jews such as Pavel. But unlike Kotler, Pavel is a kind hearted man. During this scene, Pavel put Bruno on a chair inside the kitchen when he watched Pavel “pulling the first aid kit from a cupboard and filling a small bowl of water, testing it first with his finger to make sure that is wasn’t too cold. ‘Will I need to go to hospital?’ asked Bruno. ‘No, no,’ said Pavel when he returned to his kneeling position, dipping a dry cloth into the bowl and touching it gently to Bruno’s knee, which made him wince in pain, despite the fact that it wasn’t really all that painful.” (Boyne 45 (online version)). This quote proves that Pavel is a kind hearted man because once he saw the accident happen, he stopped what he was doing to help Bruno since he was injured. In John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, we have seen that foils have appeared throughout this entire book. As one of the many possible foils Lieutenant Kotler and Pavel have been shown through their differences such as strength, bravery and kindness, as this essay has just
proven.
In “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai, the author uses foil characters in the relationship of two sisters, Nea and Sourdi. Their contrasting personalities are at the center of the plot. In fictional stories, “The main purpose of a character foil is to highlights the opposite traits of the main character”(Development of Characters). The foil character is Sourdi, her personality traits are opposite of the main character, Nea. The contrast allows Nea, the protagonist, to stand out more distinctly. The author shows the reader that Nea is headstrong, impulsive, and immature. In contrast, Sourdi is more laid back and mature. Examples of the foil are evident throughout the passage. In the scene where Nea stabs a man in the arm for tormenting her sister, her Ma states to Nea,“You not thinking. That your problem. You always not thinking!” (Meyer pg. 83) Nea wanted to protect her sister, but Nea does not think of the consequences for stabbing the man. In contrast, Sourdi always thinks of consequences. Sourdi's response to Nea, “They could take you away. The police, they
... the greatest foils to each other. When one reads of Ruby’s extreme incredible work ethic and practicality in every matter, even towards bird-watching (she uses migratory patterns to plant seasonally), one understands that she has lived in harsh conditions and foolishness was not an option. Once contrasted with her father and his physically unproductive lifestyle, one may come to view her as a calculating robot. On the other hand, Stobrod may look as though he has a far worse work ethic than he actually does wen contrasted against his daughter. Similarly, this was the dynamic of Ada’s relationship to Ruby when Ruby was first introduced. Inman, the rational, moral, and selfless farmer boy and Veasy, the lecherous, self-centered preacher serve as foil to one another. When the pair is together Inman seems so strait laced and moral, thinking every aspect out well in advance, then taking the most sensible route. Veasy on the other hand is made to look even more of a lecherous buffoon, when he, who has just had relations with Laura Foster, solicits the massive Tildy for sex in the tavern while Inman, the lonely former-soldier who has not been with woman for a long time remains celibate.
Atticus Finch and Aunt Alexander is an example of a character foil in the book.
The holocaust was a terrible point in history where Jewish people were killed and treated with prejudice. I feel Night showed how prejudice the Germans were to the Jew better than “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” because it tells Elie’s story from his point of view with his feelings while the movie was about a German kid meeting a Jewish kid and becoming friends. Even though both sources are good, I feel Night gives us more information on how they were treated.
Foils are the minor characters in a play that aid in developing the more important characters. By using the similarities and differences between two characters, the audience can get a better understanding of that major character. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses many foils to develop the major characters of his play. Two foils that Shakespeare used to develop Hamlet's character were Laertes and Polonius.
If you have the Harry Potter series, or almost any other story you have been introduced to this literary device that instantly makes your story attention-grabbing, and page-turning. This writing tool is known as a character foil. A character foil is a character that displays contrary, or opposite character traits. An example of a character foil is Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter. Their rival relationship and other conflicts are the perfect example to showcase foils at work. To continue, in the iconic “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, there are two known character foils in the first Act: Benvolio and Tybalt, and the Nurse and Lady Capulet.
A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another character. Writers often use foils to emphasize differences and traits of characters. Such an author would be William Shakespeare, author to many plays, including “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”. William Shakespeare uses foiling to emphasize one of the main character’s traits and differences. This “ foiling” relationship is between the main character Romeo and Paris.
A foil is when a characters differences contrast with another in order to show the main characters traits clearly. By using certain parts of their personalities, the reader sees the other characters opposing qualities. When an author uses foil in a novel the main character is thoroughly developed because the reader can gain more information about the characters own reactions. Mary Shelley’s use of foil characters in Frankenstein Or, The Modern Prometheus enhances the story greatly. Shelley’s way of comparing Victor, the Creature, Robert Walton and Clerval is what leads to the readers greater understanding of who Victor is. The most obvious foil throughout the novel is the Creature and Victor, child and father figure. Shelley uses their similarities
The book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne is about a young boy, Bruno, whose father is a soldier in the German army during WWII. Bruno lives with his parents and his older sister, Gretel. They live in a five story house in Berlin. He goes to school and has three best friends that he goes on adventures with. One day he comes home to find their maid packing his things. They move to a three story house in Germany because his dad was promoted and needs to be closer to his work.
Foils are used in plays so that the readers are better able to understand the major character (Hamlet). In a foil, the minor character is similar in many ways to the main character so that we will compare the two. However, it is through these similarities that we are able to see the more important differences between the two.
1. Plays have foils to help the audience understand important characters in the play. Foils are minor characters that have similarities and differences with a more important character in the play. Sometimes the minor character is just there for the character to talk to; this is the basis for being a foil. In the play "Hamlet," [Titles] by William Shakespeare, the character Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet.
Random House Webster's dictionary defines a foil as "a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast." This essay will focus on the use of the foil to contrast another character. The characters of Nora and Mrs. Linde provide an excellent example of this literary device. Mrs. Linde's aged, experienced personality is the perfect foil for Nora's childish nature. Mrs. Linde's hard life is used to contrast the frivolity and sheltered aspects of Nora's life. Nora's optimism and belief in things improbable is an opposite to the rationality and down-to-earth mentality of Mrs. Linde. Finally, the rekindling of the flame between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad is a direct contrast to the burning down of Nora and Torvald's "doll's house."
...racter is usually a stereotype and uses “repeated use in particular types of stories” (Bernardo “Types of Characters in Fiction”) Stock characters are also usually not minor characters. He is a stock character rather than a foil character because, of the fact that he is not a minor character. Therefore he could not be a foil character because, he is the main character.
Homer uses many literary devices in The Iliad, including the use of foils. A foil is a character whom possesses qualities that are in contrast to the qualities of another character. Foils are often used to highlight traits of characters. In The Iliad the foils are adversaries. An adversary is an opponent or a rival. In the following paragraphs, I will show how both of these terms relate to Achilles and Hector in The Iliad.
In Hound of the Baskervilles written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Watson have a special type of relationship. In the beginning the reader is shown that Dr.Watson is a foil to Sherlock Holmes. The meaning of “Foil”s a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. In the book the reader see’s 3 things that are always memorable. Watson is seen as smart but Holmes will always be seen as a genius,Watson is very open while Holmes is very Watson is the one that trusts more.