Foil

Character Role Analysis

Slocum's Son and Derek

One son is named, while the other is not. Slocum's unnamed son is the ideal son for Slocum, despite all of his fears and flaws, and Derek is the inherently flawed son who is far from Slocum's ideal. Slocum constantly compares the two, placing his unnamed son on a pedestal high above Derek. The one son is loved, and Derek is forgotten, to the point that Mrs. Slocum has to remind her hubby that they have three children and not two. But irony is cruel, for the one son Slocum would give anything to save ends up dead, while Derek, who might as well be dead (in Slocum's view), continues to live in Slocum's household.