Name_________________________________________
Ms. Wu
AP Literature
27 April 2015
2008 Foil Open Question/MOW Essay: Example Outline
Prompt
In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or
comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior
of the minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a
novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you
analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the
work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
Deconstructing the Prompt
 Prompt Focus
 Prompt Scope
 Best Text
Relationship between Guitar and
Milkman: Evidence
Beginning of Relationship
Guitar takes MM to see Pilate, visits
barbershop men
Foil, relationship between major and minor character
Whole text mostly (when the relationship begins)
Song of Solomon (for class example, but other texts work, too)
Strengths/Weaknesses
What the relationship reveals
about characters
Section Claim: Relationship
embodies the difference between a
race-conscious man versus raceunconscious man
Connection to MOW
Why my section claim matters
(MOW)
“My whole life is geography”
Must understand one’s blackness
for purpose, connection to greater
Guitar: embodies race-conscious
community, understanding of
black man who understands the
history, politics, culture; finding
oppression both in South and North; place in world (Guitar gets this)
wants Milkman to understand the
“condition” the black man is (not
Without this, you end up oppressing
just individual but community as a
your own people and living life
whole), orients Milkman to this
without purpose, disconnected
world of race, politics, culture (he is from your community (Milkman
patient with Milkman)
represents this)
Middle of Relationship
Milkman: Ignorant, raceunconscious man, oppresses others
by collecting rent for father,
aimless, Honore, has no sense of
being black and what this means;
extremely disliked by community
Section Claim: Relationship
highlights the divisive yet equally
important drives of black men to
pursue freedom for the community
versus the individual in a world
where “the cards are stacked
against us”
“Everybody wants the life of a black
man”
Guitar tells MM about Seven Days
Guitar falls deeper into his work
Guitar and MM go for the gold
Relationship starts to change
Both journey South
Why my section claim matters
(MOW)
Both long for freedom.
G and MM’s relationship represent
how all black men feel trapped
regardless of their circumstance
because ultimately the greater
Guitar kills MM
Guitar: wants gold to fund Seven
Days, love for community, “it’s
about loving you”; fighting for
justice and freedom for the black
community as a whole through
Seven Days work
Milkman: wants to break free,
fighting for individual freedom,
autonomy, agency, travel, “getting
away”
End of Relationship
The end!
Guitar kills Pilate
Guitar puts down his gun
Wants to kill MM
Milkman turns towards Guitar
Wheels towards
As fleet and bright as a lodestar
Knew what Shalimar knew: if you
surrendered to the air, you could
ride it
Section Claim: Relationship
illustrates the extreme measures
the black man and the black
community as a whole must go to
transcend greater racial injustice.
Must come together, but it is and
will be messy, violent, with some
missteps and tremendous loss
(Pilate’s death), and some
transcendent ones.
Guitar: Hunts down brother.
Intends to kill MM, gives him
warning; foolishly kills Pilate, but
sees Milkman as brother to the end.
Gives mercy. Misguided but
grounded in reality of poverty, racial
injustice. Wants to right wrongs.
structures in the community and
society push you down. Black men
aren’t set up for success. Who do
you love? Whose freedom do you
prioritize? This is the impossible
conflict Morrison asserts all black
men must face because of the
longstanding effects of slavery. G
and MM’s relationship symbolizes
the drastically different directions
you can go to find freedom in a
suffocating, oppressive world.
Why my section claim matters
(MOW)
“A house divided cannot stand.”
Black community is divided in terms
of how to work together to achieve
racial equality in an extremely
unequal world. Guitar’s pursuit of
justice and his means by which he is
pursuing this are not enough by
themselves; plus they are
problematic. Milkman’s
enlightenment of his family history
and discovery of flight not enough
on their own either. Must share.
Milkman’s story must become
Guitar’s story, too.
Both must turn towards their
brother, confront each other (will
be violent), and both must
surrender and give up something
precious. For Guitar, his gun, his
hatred, his anger (can argue a
softening at end). For Milkman, his
life.
Milkman: Knows his name, family
history, awakened. He has hope.
He has history of flight. Wants to
offer this hope, his story (Solomon)
to Guitar; ends up with the ability to
fly and transcend the slow death
everyone is dying because of his
connection finally to Solomon and
Surrender  Achieve flight
flight
Thesis: In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Guitar Bains serves as a foil to Milkman Dead. Through the evolution
of Guitar and Milkman’s relationship from boyhood to manhood, Morrison illustrates the contrasting political and
racial philosophies that divide the African American community and the inevitable, violent confrontation both
men must face in an effort for the entire community to transcend racial conflict.