Lather and Nothing Else and the Possibility of Evil

British Baptist Preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. ” By reading “Lather and Nothing Else,” “The Possibility of Evil” and through one’s one personal struggles this quote is found to be true. Everyone faces struggles with themselves. It is yourself that is your own enemy because your mind is what creates your fears, goals and weaknesses not someone else. The story “Lather and Nothing Else” talks about a barber who must decide to be either a hero or a murderer. The Possibility of Evil” deals with the evil that lies beneath the peaceful surface of a small town. In both stories topics including integrity, honesty, morals, values and work ethic are dealt with Characters in both stories encounter struggle or conflict, but something is learned through this struggle. First of all, the story “Lather and Nothing Else” deals with inner struggle. The main character, the barber, is secretly a member of the resistance against the government. The conflict is introduced when Captain Torres, an executioner, walks into the barber’s shop to get shaved.
That gives the barber an opportunity to kill him and become a hero. The main character then becomes very conflicted. If he decides to kill Cpt. Torres he could escape to another country, but he would still have to live with the fact that he killed someone and that feeling would haunt him for the rest of his life. The barber debated the situation in his head. Perhaps he believed killing someone would lower himself to the captain’s level. The main character came to the decision that he would not kill the captain. The barber believed he did his work honorably and didn’t want to stain his hands with blood. To each his own. That’s the way it is. To each his own. ” The lesson the author intends the readers to learn is to always weigh out the pros and cons before making a difficult choice in life. Next, “The Possibility of Evil” demonstrates the sense of morality very well. Mrs. Strangeworth is an elderly lady who lives in Pleasant Town. She had lived there for a long time and believed it was her job to protect her town. She wrote anonymous letters to people spreading false rumors and wrote about people’s flaws and sent them to different citizens of that town.
She believed that by sending these letters she was getting rid of the evil in her town. The struggles in this story is person vs. society because one can tell by reading this story that deep down in that old lady’s heart, she loathed the people in her town. She dealt with her struggle by writing secret letters about people and posting them. In the end her most prized possessions, her roses, were destroyed by a man after finding out she was the one sending the letters. The lesson readers take away from this story is what goes around comes around, any actions, good or bad, will have a consequence.

Finally, I, myself, have gone through many struggles throughout my life. One of my biggest struggles is when I spent three weeks living on a military base. I only got a chance to leave the base once and that was to do community service but I still had to wear my combat uniform. They woke us up at 5:00 AM every morning, taken for a one hour jog and trained until 6:30 in the evening. We got a 1. 5 hour break and had to be back in our barracks by 9:00 PM. We would then polish our boots for a half hour then went to bed.
They would play The Last Post at 10 PM every night and “Reveille” on the bugle every morning at 5. I struggled a lot with the schedule, home sickness and during a injury to my ankle from a Biathlon I competed in. I was so fed up with everything and just wanted to go home. I got through it because of all the amazing people that were there. The girls I shared a room with were all used to this because they have done it before. They really talked me through it and took me around the base and made it fun for me. The officers, padres and doctors there were also really supportive.
There was always someone there for me to talk to. The people I met there ended up becoming my second family. I believe the lesson I learned from that experience is that it doesn’t matter who you are with or where you may be, there really is no place at home. In conclusion, as to what was stated in the introduction, everyone faces struggles with themselves. In “Lather and Nothing Else” the barber struggles with himself, he doesn’t want to be a killer but killing Captain Torres could potentially save many other lives. In “The Possibility of Evil” the ain conflict I person vs. society, however, the woman also struggles with herself. She hated the people in her town and dealt with it by sending anonymous letters to citizens about their flaws or accused them of things they may not be guilty for. In a way, she’s destroying her own town by breaking the reliance people have in each other. Also, in my own struggle I was homesick and confused. I dealt with situation I never would have imagined beforehand. As one can see, lessons were learned through struggles by both characters in these stories and through my own experiences.