Just Lather, That’s All

In the short story, “Just Lather, That’s All”, by Hernando Téllez, a barber is forced to shave a military captain that’s brutally killing hundreds of rebels. The barber, one of the rebels, considers killing the captain, but is unable to when he realizes killing Captain Torres will belittle his name as the best barber in town. If he killed Captain Torres, everyone would forget his dedication, hard work and the fact that he ignores life outside of his job and only focuses on being a phenomenal barber.When Captain Torres walks in, the barber immediately recognizes him as the man who has brutally murdered his friends and neighbors. He knows that other rebels saw the captain walk in and expect the barber to kill him, “It was likely that many of our faction had seen him enter. And an enemy under one’s roof imposes certain rules” (Téllez 497).

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The barber doesn’t want to kill Captain Torres but he also does not want his faction, the other rebels, to think he agrees with Torres. As the barber shaves the captain, he considers killing him but is unable to as he does not want to destroy his reputation as a dedicated and talented barber and be thought of as a murdering coward rather than the great barber he is, “He slit his throat while he was shaving him — a coward” (Téllez 500). The barber’s identity is a great worker and he wants to be remembered as that, rather than everyone remembering him as the coward that killed Captain Torres. The barber’s reputation is essential to him and killing Torres would take that away from him.The barber just wants to do his job and be known for what he does honorably rather than killing Torres and being known as a murderer, “But I don’t want to be a murderer. You came to me for a shave. And I perform my work honorably… I don’t want blood on my hands.

You are an executioner and I am only a barber” (Téllez 500). When the barber states that he “perform(s) my work honorable,” he is saying that only wants to do his job and that is all (Téllez 500). The barber isn’t worried about everything else in the world, just about doing his job well which is shown when he exclaims “Yes, I was secretly a rebel, but I was also a conscientious barber, and proud of the precision required of my profession” (Téllez 498). If he worried more about his life as a rebel, he would not be able to focus on working perfectly on every customer. The barber could not care less what was happening outside of his work, he solely focuses on shaving every customer to the best of his ability.When the barber comes into work, he focuses on just shaving and the customers do the same. When the customers walk in, they take all of their work related items off and leave them at the door which shows they aren’t worried about killing one another, “At that moment, he took off the bullet-studded belt that his gun holster dangled from.

He hung it up on the wall hook and placed his military cap over it” (Téllez 496). When Captain Torres walks in, he leaves his belt and gun at the door. Him leaving his gun shows he is not worried about a having to defend himself from the barber as he knows the barber is solely focused on his job, not what is happening in the rest of the world. When Torres puts his belt back on, this represents him going back into his life outside of the barber shop: “He went to the hanger for his belt, pistol, and cap… ‘They told me that you’d kill me. I came to find out.’” (Téllez 500). Once a customer leaves, they go back to their lives of murder and the barber is able to avoid all of that by only worrying about shaving customers, no matter who they are: “I would be obliged to shave that beard like any other one, carefully, gently, like that of any customer, taking pains to see that no single pore emitted a drop of blood” (Téllez 498).

He goes to great measures to shave every customer perfectly, every time, no matter who it is because he wants to be remembered as a great barber. He can’t imagine having his name belittled by a single action that overshadows the thousands of perfect shaves he has done.The barber could not kill Captain Torres as he wants to be remembered as the dedicated barber that did his job to his best capabilities, to every customer, rather than the murdering coward that killed a defenseless customer. He does want to belittle his name as he worked extremely hard to be known as the best barber in town. When he shaves a customer, he doesn’t worry about what they do with the rest of their lives, just making sure that he makes no mistakes while he shaves them. Having the reputation as a great barber is a vital source of pride to him and to kill the captain would take that away from him which is why he did not kill him.

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