All The King's Men

by Robert Penn Warren

All The King's Men: Foil 1 key example

Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Jack and Cass:

Cass Mastern, the subject of Jack's erstwhile dissertation throughout the novel and his distant ancestor, forms a foil to the narrator. The two relatives are similar in their high-class upbringing as part of the same family. Both of their lives have tendencies toward "darkness and trouble," and both of their lives are derailed by an affair—though Cass committed infidelity himself, with Annabelle Trice, wife of Cass's friend Duncan.