Foil

Nick Adams and Ole Andreson

This foil becomes evident when we actually see the two men interacting, in the second half of the story. Their dialogue is a clear back-and-forth between a man of action and a man of passivity, an adolescent and a jaded, maybe even washed-up, older man. Nick wants to help; Ole wants to do nothing. Nick is concerned; Ole has resigned himself to not caring. The more we see of Andreson’s traits, the more we are convinced that Nick’s are completely different.