Everyday Use
by Alice Walker

Everyday Use: Foil 1 key example

Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Maggie and Dee:

In “Everyday Use,” Maggie is a foil for Dee, meaning that her presence in the story illuminates important qualities about Dee’s character. In particular, the contrast between Dee and her sister help readers to understand Dee better. The following passage captures some of the ways that the two women differ: 

Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that “no” is a word the world never learned to say to her.