‘”Mother, can I come into your room?” Laura turned the big glass door-knob.
“Of course, child. Why, what’s the matter? What’s given you such a colour?” And Mrs. Sheridan turned round from her dressing-table. She was trying on a new hat.
“Mother, a man’s been killed,” began Laura.
“Not in the garden?” interrupted her mother.
“No, no!”
“Oh, what a fright you gave me!” Mrs. Sheridan sighed with relief, and took off the big hat and held it on her knees.”‘
— “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield
Technique
In “The Garden Party,” Katherine Mansfield demonstrates the foil characters technique through dialogue between Mrs. Sheridan and her daughter, Laura.
The above dialogue is beautifully written by Mansfield because it reveals the characters’ contrasting personalities, which defines foil characters. Laura approaches her mother worried and reveals that a man was killed outside. Her mother, Mrs. Sherdian, is scared but not due to the man’s death; rather that there was a chance he died in the garden, which would’ve canceled the garden party. When she clarifies it, she returns to dressing up. This exchange reveals Mrs. Sheridan’s self-centered heart in contrast to Laura’s considerate heart and presents inverted roles where the mother proves less mature than her young daughter.
In addition to the foil characters, the exchange is an excellent example of how to write dialogue. Mansfield positions one character (Laura) as the lead conversationalist and another (Mrs. Sheridan) the reactionist, which creates a natural dynamic and flow as seen with the alternating questions and answers.
Use
- Give your characters contrasting personalities to make them dynamic and build tension.
- Dialogue should mirror human conversation as much as possible, which frequently includes alternating concrete and abstract language. For example, one character can ask a direct question about something tangible and the other can answer intangibly.
The Periplous 