Summary Of Lather And Nothing Else By Hernando Tellez

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Courage: to be unafraid of circumstance. Cowardice: fear that makes you unable to do what is right or expected, or a lack of bravery. These antonyms carry weight, define the character of a person, and challenge many to struggle against what they fear. Yet it isn’t as black and white as definitions, or boxes to neatly file away another human's actions. In the narrative, “Lather and Nothing Else.” by Hernando Tellez, unfolds a tense situation between two men on opposing sides of a war. Captain Torres, a well known soldier fighting the resistance, goes to the barber. There he undergoes a shave by the narrator, a rebellious barber. The two men are on edge, one entangled in his fear, one facing it head on. The man choosing to push past his fear …show more content…

Despite their strong wills and actions, no man is without fear, and both displayed moments of cowardice. As the narrator shaves the face of the man who has caused him much strife and pain, he imagines ending his life, the simplicity tempting him to become like those he has despised, the murders and executions of the war. He knows to kill and maybe die for his cause would be noble; thinking many would consider him “the avenger of [their] people” (345), but he allows his fear to control him, and spares the man. Although holding moral belief is not a condemnable act, in this circumstance the man was talked down foremost by fear, then by moral, and so by definition this was an act of cowardice. Captain Torres was not able to dissuade his fears either, the entire circumstance was a result of his fears pushing him to behave foolishly. At the end of the story, he admits to knowledge of the barbers revolutionary position, and that his associates believed he would be killed in the barber shop. This goes to show that the Captain came into the shop to prove his superiority over the rebellious, fearing that those around him around would otherwise think of him as fearful. This is not a fear of mortality, but instead a fear of how other perceive him. He put himself in harm's way to momentarily settle his lack of self esteem, and that is a foolish act that could only be driven by fear and

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