Foil

Character Role Analysis

The Prominent Personage

At first glance, you'd think that the prominent personage and Akaky have nothing in common. Akaky's poor, and the prominent personage is rich. Akaky is meek and low-ranking, the prominent personage is mean and high-ranking. They live in two entirely different worlds.

The whole point of a foil is to emphasize the characteristics of the main character. So normally foils are either totally different, or extremely similar. In the case of Akaky and the prominent personage, they are both at once. To the naked eye they may appear totally different, but they are trapped by the same system. Akaky is trapped by his low rank, while the prominent personage is trapped by his high rank, reminding us just how much it must suck to be a slave to your social status.