Justice In Just Lather That's All

“Just Lather, That’s All” by Hernando Tellez shows that it is not always right for one to take justice into their own hands. One reason for this is because it might make someone do something that they would rather not do. In the story, the main character (the barber) thinks about killing Captain Torres because he is a revolution fighter, and because Torres executed multiple other revolutionaries. The barber thinks to himself “ But I don’t want to be a murderer, no sir” (Tellez, Page 2) The barber does not want to become a wanted person, and more to the point, they did not want to kill. If anybody decided to take justice into their own hands, they would eventually be forced to do something that they will not want to do. Another reason why it is bad for someone to take justice into their own

Yet another reason why it would be bad for someone to take the law into their own hands is because it might make them be seen in an undesirable way. A quote from the story proves this point: “”The Murderer of Captain Torres. Slit His Throat While Shaving His Beard: A Grand Cowardice” And on the other side: “Our Avenger. A Man To Remember (and here would go my name) He was the town barber. No one knew that he was a defender of our cause…” And then what? Murderer or Hero?”(Tellez, Page 2) This lengthy quote shows how someone can be seen in different ways because of one moment. Sure, being known as a hero could have it’s advantages, but also being known as a murderer could be bad too. “Just Lather, That’s all” by Hernando Tellez truly shows that it is not right for one to take justice into their own hands, and that one should do what is morally right