Analysis Of Lather And Nothing Else By Hernando Tellez

In “lather and nothing else” by Hernando Tellez, the barber suggests that one should be aware of the consequences of the actions they are about to take. Throughout the short story the barber denotes righteousness and cautiousness.

The barber is a righteous individual because when Torres walks in the shop and takes a seat to get his beard shaved, the barber says to himself “the sight of those mutilated bodies kept me from paying attention to the face” because Torres was the barber’s enemy, he had killed other revolutionaries like the barber. When the barber reveals that Torres is a rebel captain he says to himself “with the enemy in my house, I felt a certain responsibility”. The barber considers Torres an enemy and knows he was responsible
When the barber is thinking of killing Torres, he thinks of the possible outcomes of Torres’ death and he to himself, he says “From his throat a stream of blood would flow on the sheet, over the chair, down on my hands, onto the floor” he worries about all the blood rushing out of Torres’ body that would make a huge mess and that someone might notice it. He also says to himself “what about the body? Where would I hide it?” he notices that he has does not have a good place to hide the corpse so he worries about it being found by someone even if he does hide it somewhere. These reasons prove that the barber is cautious and that one should know the consequences of the actions they are about to take. He also considers the fact that “ the blood would go flowing along the floor, warm, indelible, not to be staunched, until it reached the street like a small scarlet river”. He worries about the blood flowing all the way over to the street and being noticed by people. He takes the results of him killing Torres into consideration which makes him a cautious individual and helps the reader understand that one should be aware of the consequences of the actions they are about to