Foil

Character Role Analysis

Sammy Jankis, Leonard

Sammy Jankis works as foil for Leonard in a number of ways. First, there's the system. We know that Sammy wrote notes for himself to keep track of things, but because they weren't organized he just became lost, unable to make progress. Leonard's system is much stricter. He uses tattoos to create permanent notes and takes pictures to write notes on. He's even got a map where he can place pictures of people and objects and places. Leonard is a man on a mission. His vengeance gives him a drive that Sammy lacked.

But then there's the other Sammy; the Sammy that Teddy tells us was a fraud. We don't know much about that Sammy other than Leonard exposed him for what he was: a liar. Leonard refuses to believe that this is true and, while we have no way of knowing for sure, something does strike us as peculiar in Sammy's story.

Unlike Leonard, Sammy didn't respond to conditioning. He was unable to learn which objects were electrocuted when he was tasked with picking them up. Leonard tells us that the part of his brain that can acquire instinct is separate from short-term memory and should still work properly in Sammy, thus leading him to claim Sammy's condition as "mental."

And if Teddy is telling the truth about Leonard being his own version of Sammy, then Teddy is probably also telling the truth about there being a real, con man Sammy. If this is the case, well, Leonard and Sammy are still foils: Leonard has anterograde amnesia and uses it to lie to himself, whereas Sammy lies about having anterograde amnesia to other people.