Lather and Nothing Else - Killing People Is Not an Easy Thing to Do
Killing people is not an easy thing to do. In the story “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez, the main character thinks about trying to kill the captain of his enemy several times. Finally, he chooses not to kill him. The theme that you must be true to your own nature is expressed through point of view, the title and through expressive language.
The author creates a tense atmosphere through first person point of view, “I was secretly a revolutionary, but at the same time, I was a conscientious barber.” (2) The barber is struggling about what he should do, and which identity he should use, the revolutionary or the barber. “And this was indeed a special customer. How many of ours had he sent to their death? How many had he mutilated? It was best not to think of it. Torres did not know I was his enemy……So it was going to be very difficult to explain how it was that I had him in my hands and then let him go in peace alive, clean shaven.”(3)The barber is using a razor to shave the captain at that time, so he can easily kill the captain while the captain doesn’t have his guns with him. These quotes describe the atmosphere when the barber is shaving the captain’s beard. It is totally silent because the barber keeps struggling with the idea of killing him or not. The barber’s battling thoughts create a tense atmosphere.
In addition to narrative point of view, the title adds to the expression of the theme. The thought of killing people is like lather. It comes fast, and it goes away fast too. You could get nothing from it. “What is to be gained by it? Nothing. Others and still others keep coming and the first kill the second, and then these kill the rest, and so on until everything becomes a sea of blood.” (3)Just like the topic of this story, Lather and Nothing Else, You could get nothing from killing people. All you could get is blood. Nobody can get any benefit at all. “The lather soon began to rise.” (1) The barber is considering killing the captain. He has two choices. One is to quickly clean his beard; the other is to quickly decide to kill the captain. Both of the barber and the captain have two decisions: what they should do and what they want to do. But at last, they don’t kill each other. Those thoughts are all like lather. They rise quickly and they are nothing, just like the title.
Along with narrative point of view and the title, Tellez uses expressive language to drive home his point. Lots of imaginings and conflicts of thought make the story interesting. “But I’m shaking like a regular murderer, from his throat a stream of blood would flow on the street, over the chair, down on my hands, onto the floor. I would have ……until it reached the street like a small scarlet river.” (4) The barber was imagining the blood of the captain after he kills him. He is thinking about to kill the captain,and it’s a good chance to kill him.“I went on lathering his face. My hands began to tremble again. The man could not be aware of this, which was lucky for me……probably many of our men had seen him enter the shop. And with the enemy in my house I felt a certain responsibility.” (2) The conflict in the barber’s head keeps going and going. One side, if he doesn’t kill the captain, their people would be seen their enemy go out in peace, alive, and clean-shaven, so he should kill him. The other side, the barber thought he was a barber, not a killer, he should be nice to his customers. “I’m sure that with a good strong blew, a deep cut, he would feel no pain. He would not suffer at all…… But they would follow until they caught up with me.” (4) Imagine again, it’s a perfect time to kill the captain, the barber is imagining that what would happen if he killed the captain. He will get nothing, and his enemy will keep following him and finally kill him. So it’s better to not kill him.