Critical Essay Example on "Just Lather Thats All"

(Critical Essay On “Just Lather, That’s All” By Hernando Tellez) By Benaiah Trudell Just Dilemmas, That’s All AP English 10 “Just Lather, That’s All” proves that decisions people make and the dilemmas they end up in reflect largely on their personalities. Decisions show everyone what kind of person you are (enthusiastic, depressed, anger-deprived, intelligent, careful, judgmental, etc.) This short story is about a war between the governments’ military forces and the protestors (‘The Rebels”). During this war, there was a local barber in the town. The captain (of the troops against the protestors) came into the barber’s shop for a haircut himself. The barber was facing his worst enemy and has huge decisions to make during this ‘oblivious’ visit. “When I recognized him, I started to tremble. But he didn’t notice.” Terrified, yet half-determined, will the author’s decision be worth the consequences? The author uses a lot of foreshadowing throughout the story. First, it’s unnoticeable. Then it becomes more and more obvious as you go on. The barber was sharpening the blades on the strop when the captain entered. He creates a mental picture of the enemy’s neck, throat, veins... “An enemy under ones roof,” “taking pains to see that no single pore emitted a drop of blood,” “Bit by bit, the skin emerged.” The author is making his lust for the open skin on the captain’s neck, showing his strength towards himself to not make it bleed. This foreshadowing is telling you that the barber himself is possibly going to harm the captain. Self-conflict is shown a lot in the story as well. The barber is fighting against himself, within himself, whether or not to slit the captain’s throat. “And how easy it would be to kill him. And he deserves it. Does he? No! What the Devil! No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a