Short Story Analysis “Just Lather, That’s All”

The barber was faced with both a moral dilemma and a dilemma as a tradesman. He would love to kill Captain Torres, the man who had killed and tortured so many of his friends. Torres's death would bring an end to the revolutionaries' greatest threat. But the barber is also faced with his most consequential professional ethic and killing Torres would infringe on this code.
The author’s use of point of view was made apparent in the second sentence of the story when the barber’s thoughts were conveyed to the reader. The story is told through the first person narrative which is narrated by the barber. By having the barber tell the tale the reader is able to enter the barber's experience as he contemplates what he should do.

The internal conflict of the story goes hand in hand with the moral dilemma which is whether or not the barber would kill the military officer, Captain Torres, now that he has the man under his razor sharp razor. The conflict of the story is not man versus another man instead it is man versus himself. The barber is struggling to get hold of himself, in order to do what is necessary. Finally, he finishes shaving the Captain without resorting to any violence, as he chose to do his job as a barber over of his duty as a revolutionary. His reason being that he didn’t want to commit murder.

Throughout the story each character demonstrated different traits. Both are serious about their vocations, the captain had