What are three character traits of the Barber in "Just Lather, That's All"?

In  "Just Lather, That's All," the barber is very skilled at his profession and takes great pride in his work. This is shown by his preparation of the razor and shaving soap at the beginning of the story and also by his "careful" approach, ensuring that the Captain's "tufts of hair" do not cause the razor to go "astray" and make the Captain bleed.

Secondly, the barber knows the difference between right and wrong. Specifically, he knows that murdering a person creates as many problems as it solves. This is shown by the following line:

No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a murderer.

In addition, the barber also realizes that if he kills the Captain, it will only lead to more murders because people will want to avenge the Captain's death.

Thirdly, the barber is not spontaneous. He likes to have a solid plan in place before doing anything. When he thinks about killing the Captain, for instance, he also thinks about where he would hide the body and where he would go to avoid capture. This characteristic is also shown by the very fact of his dilemma. If he were spontaneous, he would kill the Captain without a second thought. But the fact that he does not do this shows that he needs the reassurance of planning and preparation.

What are three character traits of the Barber in "Just Lather, That's All"?

The barber is strictly a professional when it comes to his work and handling of his clients.

• He constantly strops the blade with his leather strap to assure a close, clean shave.
• He worries constantly that a spilled drop of blood will soil his own personal code of the perfect shave.

The barber is a loyal rebel.

• Despite the danger, he keeps his identity hidden while performing a fairly public duty.
• He depises the captain.

The barber is a coward.

• He has the chance to kill the captain, and he does not.
• He could take an active part in rebel activity, but he chooses to take a behind-the-scenes role.

What are two character traits of the barber in "Just Lather, That's All"?

The barber, who is clearly on the opposing side of his client's faction could easily harm this man who plans to kill all the “rebels” with whom the barber sympathizes. The barber looks calm and professional throughout most of the encounter, choosing to glean intelligence from his customer instead. Based on these actions, we can conclude that the barber is good at appearing dispassionate, is professional to the core, and is a tactical conversationalist and observer.

Several lines from this story support my opinions regarding the barber. First and foremost, is the line where the barber admits, “Torres did not know that I was his enemy.” In spite of having an enemy as his customer, the barber remains professional and gives this customer a first-class shave while conversing with him. Secondly, aside from a slight trembling of his hand, he remains calm while discussing Torres' plans to mutilate some of the barber's revolutionary counterparts:

“Do you plan to punish them all?" "All." The soap was drying on his face. I had to hurry . . . There, for sure, the razor had to be handled masterfully, since the hair, although softer, grew into little swirls. One of the tiny pores could be opened up and issue forth its pearl of blood. A good barber such as I prides himself on never allowing this to happen to a client . . . How many of us had he ordered mutilated?

Only when Torres is done with his shave does he admit to the barber that he thought he might not leave his shop alive. The dialogue that the barber has with himself about whether to murder Torres or not has been ours to see alone. During the entire encounter, his nervousness and his inner conflict with Torres as a client is not revealed to Torres. But almost as a taunt to the barber Torres states hypocritically, “But killing isn't easy. You can take my word for it.”

In the end, the barber decided for himself to protect his career as a barber, by not hurting Torres. The barber also has the viewpoint that he is not a murderer although his fellow revolutionaries would undoubtedly see him as a hero for killing Torres. The opportunity to harm his enemy stared him in the face, but he thought better of it without realizing that Torres was aware from the beginning of the barber's status as a revolutionary.

In "Just Lather, That's All," discuss the barber's character.

This is a masterful tale of suspense and tension, and so you will want to focus on how the character description builds tension and reveals the fear and terror that the barber is undergoing. But let us start with essentials. We know two essential qualities about the barber, as he himself tells us:

Yes, I was secretly a rebel, but I was also a conscientious barber, and proud of the precision required of my profession.

It is these two qualities that really shape the barber as a character. As he faces the dilemma of whether or not to kill Captain Torres, he comes back to the fact that he is a barber who takes pride in his work:

I'm a barber who does things properly...

There, surely, the razor had to be handled masterfully, since the hair, although softer, grew into little swirls. A curly beard. One of the tiny pores could open up and issue forth its pearl of blood, but a good barber prides himself on never allowing this to happen to a customer.

In spite of the chance that he had, what is more important to him is his profession and the fact that as he himself says, he is "the best [barber] in the town."

However, this opportunity also allows the barber to show his moral values and his true superiority over Captain Torres. As the story progresses it moves to an almost stream-of-consciousness kind of narration, where we hear the internal monologue of the barber's thoughts. Consider the following passage:

Damn him for coming! I'm a revolutionary, not a murderer. 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 murderer. What do you gain by it? Nothing. Others come along and still others, and the first ones kill the second one, and they the next ones - and it goes on like this until everything is a sea of blood.

This, to me, is a very revealing passage, because it shows that the barber has higher ethical standards than the Captain. The barber recognises the futility of murder, and even though he has been given a golden opportunity to help the rebel cause, if he takes advantage of it he will be lessening his own humanity by becoming a murderer, because in the end, murder achieves nothing.

Thus it is these two characteristics - the pride that he takes in his work and his moral outlook on life - that essentially define the barber and ensure that he makes the right choice. This is a right choice that Torres himself acknowledges, when he leaves the barbershop saying "But killing isn't easy." Is this perhaps a grudging mark of respect for the stand that the barber has taken?

What are three character traits of the barber in "Just Lather, That's All"?

The barber in this excellent short story is a very interesting character. He is not presented as a "hero" in the traditional sense of the word, and yet it is clear that he is operating in secret as a rebel sympathiser against a brutal and uncompromising military regime, symbolised in Captain Torres. However, interestingly, what is emphasised again and again in his short narrative is the way he takes pride in his skill as a barber. Note what he says:

Under the stroke of my razor Torres was being rejuvenated--rejuvenated because I am a good barber, the best in the town, if I may say so.

Even though he is shaving the head of the military regime, the most brutal soldier of all, it is still important to him to do his job well. For a second characteristic, it is clear that the barber is timid. He begins to tremble when Captain Torres enters the room and his decision at the end of the narrative to just be a barber and not a murderer shows that he is keen to remain with what he is comfortable. Lastly, however timid he is, the story revolves around the fact that he is a rebel, and therefore opposed to the regime of Captain Torres. However, in spite of this, it is his decision to not be a murderer that shapes him as a character above anything else.