Foil

Character Role Analysis

Percival/Bernard, Jinny, Neville, Susan, Rhoda, and Louis

As the only main character that doesn't get a chance to speak in The Waves, Percival is often notable in the minds of the six narrators/protagonists for how different he is from themselves. For example, Neville contrasts his own frailty, solitude, and lack of popularity to Percival's physical beauty, athleticism, and gregariousness.

The characters frequently define themselves as opposites to their friends (not just Percival), but as the character we never get to "meet," he represents the purest foil, an objective standard of physical perfection, fortitude, and justness that the narrators set off on a pedestal as exceptional and distinct from their six-headed narrator self (or selves?).