Comparing Hernando Tellez's Lather And Nothing Else

“To cover my nervousness I went on honing the razor”. This statement shows how the barber was nervous because of his new customer in Hernando Tellez's short story, Lather and Nothing Else. Set in an old south western town in the 1800’s, the story begins with a barber sharpening his razor when a customer enters his shop, it is Lt. Torres. Lt. Torres’s job is to hunt down and kill revolutionaries. The barber is a revolutionary and he has to keep himself calm around the Lt. The barber contemplating to kill Torres or not, illustrates author Tellez’s theme that it is not worth killing to lose everything you have worked hard to get. Initially, the barber thought Torres did not know he was a revolutionary. When the barber see Torres enter his shop he panics, “And when I recognized him, I started to shake”. The barber was afraid because his

“I was also a conscientious barber proud of the way I did my job”. The barber lives two lifes but he values his life as a barber over his revolutionary life. “A good barber like myself stakes his reputation on not permitting that to happen( allowing a drop of blood to come off the customer) to any of his customers”. The barber values his job so much that he would still the best work he could do even though it was a person he despises because he kills his friends. Thus, the barber takes his work over his beliefs in the revolution.

Next, the barber thinks about murdering Torres, while Torres has his eyes closed. The barber thinks, “ I am a revolutionary not a murderer”. The barber will keep his beliefs but he will not kill for them. The barber thinks to himself, “It would be so easy to kill him. He deserves it or does he deserve it?”. The barber thinks about whether Torres deserves to die but then he thinks if he kills him that makes him no better than Torres because that is what Torres does. Then, the barber decides if Torres really deserves to