The Management of Grief

by Bharati Mukherjee

The Management of Grief: Foil 1 key example

Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Shaila and Judith:

In “The Management of Grief,” the white government social worker Judith Templeton acts as a foil to Shaila, meaning that her presence in the story reveals important qualities of Shaila’s character. Specifically, Judith’s bureaucratic and secular approach to supporting grieving people, when juxtaposed with Shaila’s more personal and spiritual approach, reveals that Shaila’s approach (both with other grieving people and with herself) is much more liberatory and humane. While Judith relies on her social work textbooks and the ideas they contain about the proper sequence of the stages of grief, Shaila knows that grieving is a non-linear and deeply individual process, noting to Judith at one point, “We all must grieve in our own way.”