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Just Lather, That's All

by Hernando Téllez

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Student Question

In "Just Lather, That's All," where was Captain Torres for the last four days?

Quick answer:

Captain Torres spent the last four days hunting down rebel troops. This is evident when the barber, who secretly supports the rebels, notes that Torres has a four-day beard due to his search for "our troops." The story reveals Torres as part of the military junta, planning to publicly torture captured rebels, creating a moral dilemma for the barber who has the opportunity to kill Torres during his shave.

Expert Answers

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The answer to this question can be found in the second paragraph, which is after Captain Torres enters the barber's shop and sits down for a shave, demanding the barber's services. Note what the barber thinks:

I estimated he had a four-day beard. The four days taken up by the search for our troops. His face seemed reddened, burned by the sun.

As the story develops the reader understands that Captain Torres represents the miliary junta and the barber actually works for a rebel group of dissidents. The reference to "our troops" indicates that Captain Torres spent the last four days hunting down rebel troops, and, as the story makes clear, he caught some and will publicly torture them that very day. Tellez is very careful in this masterful short story to place the barber in a real dilemma, as he is the one person who has direct access to the throat of Captain Torres, and therefore needs to decide what he is going to do as a result.

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