Complexity and Ambiguity of Haircut :: Haircut

Complexity and Ambiguity of Haircut Many critical commentators have pointed out that family Lardners best work was done in the field of satiric comedy. sometimes his work was more satirical than comic, and sometimes vice versa. His short story, Haircut, is unquestionably an exponent of the former, because within the satire of Haircut are some undoubtedly horrific and tragic elements. The story concerns the events in a shrimpy unnamed land mile town as told by a barber while he is cutting a clients hair. He tells of the death of Jim Kendall, a practical bomb whose comedy and other actions leave virtue much desired, and who is killed by a supposedly accidental shooting during a hunt. The only clear fore of the story involves the satirizing of smug small town values, portrayed through honkys narration. In this paper I will show how the character of the barber illustrates these wanting(p) values, and how these set the stage for a traditional interpretation of Haircu t -- one where Jim is deserving of his fate. Finally, I will contrast this interpretation with other critical interpretations, which designate that Lardners purpose is not so clear, but obfuscated by ambiguity. The Small townsfolk Barber and Traditional Interpretation From the outset of the story we observe the untaught and unintelligent qualities of the barber, whose name we learn is Whitey. His muddled language, full of diction and phrase structure errors, immediately make the reader skeptical of his reliability. In the opening sentences, for example, Whitey says You can see for yourself that this aint no New York City and besides that, the closely of the boys works all day and dont have no leisure to autumn in here and get themselves all prettied up. The conversational language of the small town, filled with slang and bad pronunciation, riddles the entire narration. Whitey says, I view they was more laughin done here than any town its size in America, and he d be settin in this chair part of the time, and shed divorced him only they wasnt no chance to get alimony and she didnt have no way to analyze care of herself and the kids. This suspicion of Whiteys trustworthiness and character is further characterized by his interpretations of events.