My name is Ryan Siekert.

In the previous line, I typed $name into the code to call a variable.

In the previous line, I used the forward slash "\" character to be able to print the "$" character.

The purpose of the escape character is to be able to print certain characters that the code would normally read as a command. You're essentially telling the system, "Hey, don't read this next part as code and just print it for me."