Foil

Character Role Analysis

Peter

Finally! We've got a role for Peter. He's the foil. He's there to contrast with Jerry. Jerry's messed-up, poor, unhappy, and unsettled. Peter's happily married, wealthy, blandly cheerful, and settled right there on the bench. "You have everything in the world you want" (247), Jerry spits, suggesting that he (Jerry) does not have everything he wants, and in fact has just about nothing he wants. But at the same time, Peter also shows what Jerry does have—spontaneity, excitement, danger, the ability to talk to strangers and tickle them.