Complexity and Ambiguity of Haircut :: Haircut

Complexity and Ambiguity of Haircut      Ã‚  Ã‚   Many critical commentators have pointed out that Ring Lardner's 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 definitely an exponent of the former, because within the satire of Haircut are some undoubtedly repulsive and tragic elements. The story concerns the events in a small unnamed Michigan town as told by a barber while he is cutting a client's hair. He tells of the death of Jim Kendall, a practical joker whose comedy and other actions leave virtue much desired, and who is killed by a supposedly accidental shooting during a hunt. The only clear theme of the story involves the satirizing of smug small town values, portrayed through Whitey's narration. In this paper I will show how the character of the barber illustrates these deficient values, and how these set the stage for a traditional interpretation of "Haircut" -- one where Jim is deserving of his fate. Finally, I will contrast this interpretation with other critical interpretations, which argue that Lardner's purpose is not so clear, but obfuscated by ambiguity.    The Small Town Barber and Traditional Interpretation From the outset of the story we observe the uneducated and unintelligent qualities of the barber, whose name we learn is "Whitey." His muddled language, full of diction and syntax errors, immediately make the reader skeptical of his reliability. In the opening sentences, for example, Whitey says "You can see for yourself that this ain't no New York City and besides that, the most of the boys works all day and don't have no leisure to drop 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 bet 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 she'd divorced him only they wasn't no chance to get alimony and she didn't have no way to take care of herself and the kids."    This suspicion of Whitey's trustworthiness and character is further characterized by his interpretations of events.