Identify and explain the protagonist, antagonist, and setting in "Just Lather, That's All."
In this excellent short story, the protagonist is the anonymous barber who narrates the story, the antagonist is Captain Torres, who comes to the barber's shop for a shave, and the setting is the barber's shop in a small village in Spain somewhere. The protagonist and antagonist are identified through their conflict, and as the barber is the main character telling the reader the story, it is clear that he is the protagonist. His conflict with Torres is shown through the following quotation:
His name was Torres. Captain Torres. A man of imagination, because who else would have thought of hanging the naked rebels and then holding target practice on certain parts of their bodies?
The barber identifies himself as a "rebel," a member of the group that Torres is working so hard to root out and kill, and as a result, there is definite conflict between them. How this...
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conflict is resolved, however, is something that is very surprising, as is shown through the ending of the story. Finally, the setting is where the action takes place. As Torres has come for a shave, it is clear that the setting of this short story is the barber's own barber shop, as Torres sits down and the barber has everything he needs there to give Torres his shave. Normally in a short story, because of its brevity, there is but one main setting, and this is the case in this short story, as there are no other locations.