People must make a choice to resolve their problems when they are in trouble of their own inner conflicts. In the short story “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez, the barber conflicted himself because he must make a decision whether he killed the Captain Torres or not without danger. The barber’s first decision for resolving the conflict was simply to kill Captain Torres because Captain Torres was on a foray against his fellow revolutionaries.
This would be a natural way of thinking for him to do it because he wanted to revenge for his friends. The barber described how easy he could kill the captain and he imaged he had killed the Captain and his flood flowed all over the floor. “And so, which will it be? Murderer or hero? My fate hangs on the edge of his razor blade” . If the barber had killed the captain, captain’s men would catch and kill him. This is the most important to him being a conscientious barber. And now come to his second decision to solve the inner conflict which he could not kill the captain.
The barber “does not want to stain his hands with blood. Just with lather and nothing else” . He didn’t want to lose his life because he knew someone is outside of the barber shop. They were going to catch him if he killed Captain “No one deserves the sacrifice others make in becoming assassins” revealed the barber had understood that it was morally wrong to kill another human being, no matter what the circumstances were .In conclusion, in the beginning of the story the barber was stuck in a dilemma kill Captain or not. However, the barber finally decided not to be a murder, just simply a barber and values for his job.
