Haircut

After reading Ring Lardner’s Haircut, the phrase “what goes around, comes around” definitely comes to mind. Lardner begins the story by actually placing the reader in the barber’s chair. Whitey, a naive barber, begins to tell a series of stories about the people who live in Carterville. The author tells the reader about Jim, a self-centered prankster, who ultimately gets what he deserves.

Lardner lets the reader know Whitey is naļve and somewhat gullible when Whitey describes the time Jim played a cruel joke on him. Once, Jim impersonated a woman stating her husband had died and she needed someone to come shave him. This is not only an example of foreshadowing, but is also very ironic. This same type of prank ends up getting Jim killed at the end of the story. It also makes the reader wonder if Whitey had to give him a shave after he died.

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Jim makes fun of Paul and strives to humiliate him in front of others. He gets pleasure from his own family’s pain. ader becomes more and more aware that Whitey thinks too good of Jim. This is a definite example of mental abuse. He also gets pleasure by exploiting other people’s disabilities, like Paul’s mental problem. He is obviously a pathetic husband and father to his children. He thinks of Jim as a fun, “comical” person who people seemed to like. We know this because he says people would give Jim the big chair when he came in on Saturdays.

The reader finds out Jim is not only cruel to Whitey but to his wife, Paul, and Julie as well. Maybe Julie will think of Paul as more than a friend because of what he did for her. The greatest instance of physical abuse occurs when Jim is humiliated when Julie continuously rejects him.

Another disturbing attribute Jim has is he is very vengeful. Instead of giving his wife money to support the children, he gets drunk every night. After all of the negative stories Whitey tells about Jim, the reader enjoys hearing about how the pranks Jim played on others come back to haunt him.

Approximate Word count = 615
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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