Fiction And The Business Lesson

Fiction and the Business Lesson

What would workers do if they are faced with an adversity that is conflicting with their personal beliefs, self-esteem, and professionalism? Many times, workers are forced to decide which of the three issues they should choose, a problem that makes their decision-making very difficult. This paper selected story, "Just Lather, That's All," coincides with these issues. This paper shall also analyze how the entertainment aspects of this story relate to the lesson it teaches about business.

Settings

"Just Lather, That's All" is a story of a barber, a former revolutionary rebel, that is face with an adverse decision to either kill his adversary, Captain Torres, by slitting his throat with a razor or let him go. The story is told from the barber's point of view and the story is in first person. The character is the barber who is talking to the reader. The venue takes place in a barbershop. This character must service a customer who he very clearly loathes. He is also contemplating on killing Captain Torres. The character have identified his adversary and made it clear to the reader. When Captain Torres enters in the shop, the barber held in reserve his emotion as stated in the story, "When I recognized him I started to tremble. But he didn't notice. Hoping to conceal my emotion, I continued to sharpening the razor" (Tellez, 1996, p.89).

Characters and their interaction

The author, Hernando Tellez, gives description of the barber, Captain, and the scene. This helps the reader to visualize the scene very well. Two characters are identified in the story are round and flat characters. Characters that changes or evolves over the course of a narrative or appears to have the capacity for such change is called round characters (Wheeler, 2008). A round character is usually a main character and is developed over the course of the story. Round characters can be complicated, pragmatic, and can represent a depth of personality which is derivative of life (Wheeler, 2008). These characters can react unexpectedly or become entangled in their own interior conflicts. In this story, the reader sees the barber as the round character that is trapped in his conflicting decision: administer his own form of punishment or finish the job that is required of him. This is obvious when the character stated, "Yes, I was secretly a rebel, but I was a conscientious barber, and proud of the preciseness of my profession. And this four-day's growth of beard was a fitting challenge" (Tellez, 1996, p. 91). A character that does not change or alter that character's personality over the course of a narrative is called flat character (Wheeler, 2008). Flat character is opposite of round character. A flat character is distinguished by its lack of a realistic personality. The reader identified Captain Torres as the flat character. The Captain began speaking to the barber and the barber pretends to be interested in Captain Torres' story. The story implies that the barber feigns interest of Captain Torres' story to conceal his genuine thoughts. The story entails Captain Torres, as he lies face up in the barber chair with his eyes closed, speaking to the barber regarding his former revolutionary rebels. Captain Torres mentioned they would be captured and killed. The story also gives the reader the impression that the barber is drawing information from Captain Torres to justify his cause of actions to kill the Captain.

Style and structure of the story

Both characters and the plot have a close relationship. The story is written in a narrative style which draws the reader into the story. The story included specific details to make a situation come alive for the reader. The reader can get an intimate view and see the action unfold at the same time the character does. This style also helps the reader establish a relationship with the character and convey a particular mood the character is feeling. The story is structured to produce tension because it describes how the barber shaved Captain Torres' beard with an old fashion straight razor blade. This razor blade is sharp enough to cut a person's jugular vein. Captain Torres would die by strangulation. Through the use of detail and description, the reader can easily envision a picture of the scene. The story helps the reader view Captain Torres laying back in the chair with is eyes closed and the barber's razor blade suspended above his neck. The reader visualized the scene as the barber provides specific details. The story brings curiosity out of the reader by searching each line of the story to see if the barber will give in to temptation and eradicate Captain Torres. In the beginning of the story, Captain Torres is unintentionally tempting the barber to kill him; however, there is a reason of the Captain's "idiocy"