Who Is Mary Warren A Foil In The Red Dress

In the short story “The Red Dress”, the most prominent character foils are suggested between Lonnie and Mary Fortune. Lonnie represents the epitome typical, mainstream female who is extremely interested and fanatic about the boys in the narrator’s high school. Unlike the narrator who frequently wears the old-fashioned red dress her mother sows for her, Lonnie was “light-boned, pale and thin, she had been a Baby Blue” (p.9) ever since she was born. Her fashion sense and style also reflects the modern, conventional “pale blue crepe dress, with a peplum and bow” which most of the girls the in the high school aspire to wear themselves. Despite having crooked teeth, because of Lonnie’s gorgeous, smooth dress, she remains effortlessly beautiful.

She is neither fascinated nor interested in boys and refers to the other girls who are obsessed boy-crazy girls as complete idiots. Mary also wishes to achieve independence as demonstrated by her clear vision of her own foreseeable future in which she wishes to make money herself, since she lacks financial support from her parents and wishes to become a gym teacher. Despite these difficulties she encounters, Mary Fortune continues to maintain her self-respect and positivity. This optimistic, confident feeling she beholds prevents her from capitulating to the typical, mainstream society and allows her to continue to preserve while attempting to eventually achieve her own goals. Her unique, ambitious nature is not discovered in the other mainstream girls where the others only worry about their current boyfriends and popularity at

Emma wishes to Fusi will voluntarily leave the house so she can attain full control of the house herself; however, since Fusi is unwilling to succumb to his inevitable fate in which he continues to age every day, Emma purposely establishes hindrances and obstacles for Fusi and often uses religion as a threat against him. She is only watching over Fusi’s actions since she is “afraid of scandal, and would do anything to avoid causing an unsavory rumor to be attached to her own or her husband’s name”, illustrating her selfish character in that she only wishes to maintain her current, positive reputation. Even though Emma is considered to be heavily religious, her actions prove otherwise. She often takes advantage of religion in an attempt to justify her behaviour and moral values. This is indicated when she claims she cares about Fusi but these claims remain contradictory as she obstinately believes that “God will punish [Fusi]” for pursuing his own passions. Furthermore, her true, deceitful personality is revealed when she intentionally tells the other fish inspectors about Fusi’s illegal fishing but then defends her own supposedly righteous behaviour where she believes that the “the Lord’s work be done.” Emma’s attitude and behaviour is ironic in which the Lord’s work