Foil

Character Role Analysis

Anita

Anita and Maria: These two women in love couldn't be more different. Maria's the hopeful, naïve young girl, new to the country and waiting to fall in love. Maria's been around the block. She's been with Bernardo for a while, and she's experienced in love and sex. She's the realist to Maria's romantic, a voice of reason to a girl who's out of her mind in love. She's assertive and street-smart with plenty of sassy attitude. She makes the gentle Maria look like the very young woman she is.

Riff

Sarcastic, cynical, angry Riff plays the foil to our hero Tony, the hopeful, romantic pacifist working man. They're close as brothers and have known each other forever, but they've gone off in totally different directions in ways that make us think about how they ended up that way. In his scenes with Tony, Riff shows us how far Tony's come from his days as a Jet. He's relentless and aggressive, caught up in the moment; Tony's laid-back and sunny, with his eyes on the bigger picture.