Not All Opposites Are Foil Characters. Not All Doubles Are Mirror Characters.
If your cast “contrasts” the protagonist but doesn’t change the story, you don’t have a foil or mirror. You have noise. This essay shows you how to fix it.
What O’Connor Designed: Scene Structure in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Most readers admire the ending of A Good Man Is Hard to Find for its shock. They miss its design. This essay breaks down the final scene through craft principles—POV, goal, obstacle, escalation—to show how Flannery O’Connor structures tension, moral exposure, and rupture with absolute precision.