What is the mood in the story "Just Lather, That's All"?
The story is an intense meditation on a moral dilemma: should the barber murder the murderer who has come to his shop for a shave? Told from the point of view of the barber, the tone of the story is one of anxiety and suspense: as the barber tries to decide what to do, the reader also wonders what the outcome will be.
This tone is heightened as the story progresses and the barber engages in a kind of internal monolog about his responsibilities as a rebel sympathizer and the ethical responsibilities of his profession. While it would be easy to kill the captain, he also knows that he would be hunted down and killed himself if he did so. He tries to justify his inaction by arguing that his role is to pass on information, not kill people. Finally, he reflects that, although the Captain is a cold-blooded killer...
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who stages public executions and then mutilates the bodies, if he were to kill him he would become like the captain himself: another cold blooded killer.
The relief the barber feels once this decision is made is palpable. However, the end of the story provides a twist that changes both the meaning and tone. The captain knew all along that the barber might kill him, but he went for a shave anyway, trusting that the barber would not have the courage (or the ability to suppress his humanity) to do it. The anxious tone returns, then turns to one of shock. The barber knows that he has been found out as a rebel sympathizer. While there is some relief that the captain seems to have spared his life anyway, there is also a final sense of dread about what might happen to the barber in the future.
The mood of "Just Lather, That's All" is suspenseful. A military man arrives in the barber shop of the unnamed narrator and asks for a shave. The man in the barber's chair is revealed to be Captain Torres, who has ordered rebels hanged naked and has commanded that target practice be aimed at their bodies. The narrator begins to shave the captain, and it is revealed that the narrator is in league with the rebels. The captain almost begins to taunt the narrator, as the captain goes on to describe in vague details the plan he has for killing the rebels he has just captured. The narrator's hand is poised on the captain's neck with a blade, and it is not clear whether he will kill him or not. The narrator feels anguished as he weighs his responsibility as a barber against his fealty to the rebels. Until the last moment, the reader does not know whether the narrator will kill the captain or not. He does not, and the captain reveals at the end that he came to test whether the narrator would kill him.
In the opening paragraph of "Just Lather, That's All," the mood is fearful and tense. This is established, primarily, by the description of the trembling barber and the reference to the Captain's clothing. These items, particularly the "gun holster" and "bullet-studded belt" evoke images of war and murder and suggest that violence might occur at some point in the story.
This tense mood continues as the story progresses. The images of the hanging soldiers, the oppressive heat and the barber's internal dilemma over whether to kill the Captain all contribute to this atmosphere.
Relief comes in the final lines of the story when the writer employs an image of rebirth to describes the Captain's skin:
He rubbed his hands over his skin and felt it fresh, like new.
The barber decides not to kill the Captain, and his inner peace is emphasized through his physical description: his shirt is "soaked," for instance, but he is no longer actively sweating. His conflict has, therefore, come to an end.
What mood does the dialogue between the two men in "Just Lather, That's All" create?
The conversation between Captain Torres and the barber in Hernando Tellez's short story, "Just Lather, That's All," takes on a matter-of-fact tone on the surface, but the reader is given the added insight of the barber's secret: that he, too, is a rebel and an enemy of the man seated in his chair. The barber tries to remain calm as Captain Torres tells his tale of murder and mutilation, but he trembles as he prepares to shave his customer.
No doubt about it, I was upset.
Torres remains relaxed throughout as his four-day beard is carefully removed. The barber provides questions and chit-chat as he completes his work--nervous, but secure in the knowledge that his secret is safe. Tellez creates an aura of wait-and-see tension as the barber shaves the sideburns one by one, followed by the throat and chin. Will the barber use the razor for revenge, the reader wonders? When Torrez rises from the chair and reaches for his gunbelt, the climax becomes clear: The captain has a secret, too, but he has not come to kill, but for "just lather, that's all."
What is the author's tone in the story "Just Lather, That's All"?
The author Hernando Tellez tells this story in a very matter-of-fact manner that belies the seriousness of the situation. Tellez introduces the brutality of Captain Torres through simple conversation between the two men, and then slowly reveals the true relationship between the two rivals. The tension builds as the reader comes to realize that the barber can end the town's misery with one stroke of his blade, but the barber is a professional and must not mix politics with his avocation, and, unlike his customer, he must not spill a single drop of blood. Although the reader eventually comes to understand that Captain Torres is the barber's mortal enemy, the author does not disclose that Torres suspects the barber until the very end.