Lather and Nothing Else by Hernando Tellez

Summative Story Analysis 10th Grade English By Ruth Ann Bayanos

Lather and Nothing Else by Hernando Tellez

Intertextuality

"Lather and Nothing Else" is an English translation of the original in Spanish, "Espuma y nada más" by Hernando Tellez. Translation is an example of intertextuality. The person who translated this specific version of "Espuma y nada más" didn't translate word for word into English.

Using google translate to translate the whole page of what I assume is the original text in Spanish, even though the wording is different, it is the same story reworded so that just in case certain phrases don't translate well into another language, the purpose of it is preserved.

Another example of an English translation is a more word for word translation(Linked).

Comparison

"No saludó al entrar," (Original Spanish translation). "He did not salute upon entering," (google translated).

"He came in without a word," (used in class).

"He did not say hello when he came in," (closer to word for word English translation).

Text to World Connection

Becoming Desensitized

Being exposed to something repeatedly can cause someone to become desensitized to even something incredibly disturbing.

Relating to the past two years, people I know and myself have lost multiple people. Earlier this year, a cluster of people I've been close with including my grandmother passed away in a short time frame. At some point, I didn't what to feel. There was just, nothing.

Captain Torres talks about death and killing nonchalantly. "'I would love to catch a nap...but there's a lot to be done this evening.' I lifted my brush and asked, with pretended indifference: 'A firing party?' 'Something of the sort,' he repled, 'All of them?' 'No, just a few,'" (Tellez 2).

Barber gushes a ton about his razor while contemplating on committing murder.

He also thinks about what kind of hairstyle would suit him. It could be a way of distracting himself from what he plans to do, or maybe even though he feels he is responsible to kill the Captain, he just inherently does not want to so he is thinking about what future hairstyles the captain could sport after letting him go. "He should let it grow like some poets, or some priests. It would suit him well"(Tellez 3).

Veterans

When the barber mention, "I would have to flee and leave all this behind, take shelter far far away. But they would follow until they caught up with me" (Tellez 4) while he was thinking of potential consequences if he ends up killing Captain Torres.

With soldiers who've fought in war and part of their job is to kill people on the other side during war. Even if they aren't taken as prisoners, how could they ever go back to living normally? In this world, killing is usually regarded as one of the most monstrous and immoral crimes. "But it's not easy to kill"(Tellez 4). Even if they aren't being hunted down, their experiences will forever haunt and chase after them. Their memories of war and seeing so much bloodshed will always follow until they caught up with them. Even if they don't confront or properly process what they've seen, it will always affect them.

Literary Devices

Symbolism

The razor used in the story was the barber's best razor. "I was stropping my best razor"(Tellez 1). He praises his razor throughout the story and even uses personification to describe his razor, "The blade responded to perfection"(Tellez 2). It is clear he has a high regard for this razor, as well as his abilities as a barber, "because I am a good barber, the best in this town, and I say this in all modesty"(Tellez 3).

In the end, he chose neither to be a murdered or hero, but to just be a barber. "I am only a barber. Each one to his job. That's it" (Tellez 4).

Diction & Tone

Imagery

The use of imagery by writing very detailed descriptions of the barber's actions helps create suspense. It shows us that the barber is nervous and attentive. His mind is working hard to lie and not get caught.

Anxious Tone

I would compare this to when trying to lie or keep quiet about something. My mind would be extremely attentive to the littlest of things. The fear of being caught causes my mind to be extremely nervous and to constantly worry about every little detail that might give me away.

"A little more lather here under the chin, on the Adam's apple, right near the great vein. How hot it is!" (Tellez 3).

We know exactly where the brush with the lather is on Captain Torres's neck. It is described as hot, so that is also appealing to our sense of touch.

"Taking heed that not a single pore should emit a drop of blood...taking care that the skin was left clean, soft, and shining, so that when I passed the back of my hand over it not a single hair should be felt...little by little the skin began to show through. The razor gave its usual sound as it gathered up layers of soap mixed with bits of hair," (Tellez 2).

For some reason, when I read, "Mixed with bits of hair," it unsettles me a little bit.

Lots of verbs are in the past tense, so maybe the barber was reliving what had happen, or is telling it to someone else. "I took up the razor, opened the handle wide,"(Tellez 2) "But I was a conscientious barber"(Tellez 2) or "I was secretly a revolutionary" (Tellez 2).

It is a bit confusing because other times(mostly towards the last page), he uses present tense verbs. "But I don't want to be a murderer"(Tellez 4) instead of "I didn't want to be a murderer."

Maybe part of the story is a flashback or the change in verb tenses was a mistake?

Theme

The sense of responsibility and obligation

The barber felt the sense of responsibility to kill Captain Torres because he has the chance to kill THE enemy. "And with the enemy in my house I felt a certain responsibility," (Tellez 2).

They aren't each other's personal enemies, but they are both for opposing views and are on opposite teams.

Each are doing their jobs diligently.

Even with the plan of killing the Captain, the barber decides to finish his job first. "I would have to shave his beard just like any other, carefully, neatly, just as though he were a good customer"(Tellez 2). He could have killed Captain Torres right away. Whether it was a way to delay the act or not, he decided to do what he was requested of his job. "

Captain Torres does not kill the barber even with the knowledge that he isn't on the side of their regime.

Process of making a difficult decisions and thinking for yourself

Making a choice based on what an individual wants to do and not solely because of what they are expected to choose.

Towards the end, the barber is reminded of how skilled he is as a barber looking at how well he has shaved Captain Torres. I think this might have also influenced his decision on not being the one to kill him along with his morals.

Perspectives

Captain Torres's First Person Alternative POV

From Captain Torres's view, we might have him contemplating whether he should go for a shave or not because he is putting himself in a vulnerable position to get killed. We know he has bee warned of this, "They told me you would kill me," (Tellez 4). He decided to go. Captain Torres might describe to us how easily he is reading the barber's body language, or maybe we are given a run through on his thoughts(fear for his life maybe? or maybe he disregards his life enough that he would risk it just to know whether the barber could come through and kill him).

His thoughts might also be filled with regret and guilt. Maybe from his point of view, we would get a run down on the amount of people he has executed and he decides to go to the barber to see if karma will deal with him.

The barber's First Person POV

Easier to side with the barber even though he is planning to commit murder(although Captain Torres is an executioner) because we have access to his thoughts and feelings, making it easier to sympathize with him.

We do not know the thoughts of Captain Torres and it helps the reader stay at the edge of their seat anticipating for what might happen to the barber. It is difficult to predict what Captain Torres might do because he has very little input throughout the story. Therefore I think it builds suspense because we only know one side of the story and are limited to only what the barber knows.