The Michigan-born writer Ring Lardner is best
known for his columns and short stories, but most
of all, he's known as a master humorist. The peak
of his career in the 1920's was spent writing about
the vices and follies of marriage, sport, and theatre,
the latter of which is evident in his fascination
with comedy and tragedy. For his monologuestyle short story called "Haircut," Lardner whips
up a strikingly satirical tale detailing questionable
comedy, painful pranks, and the ultimate power
of storytelling, which ultimately claims the fate
of the darkly humorous protagonist.
In "Haircut," you, the reader, sit in the barber's
seat, listening to the ramblings of a friendly
but talkative country-twanging barber named
Whitey who divulges almost all of the town's
secrets as he cuts your hair. Lardner writes the
entire story from the perspective of this barber in
full Southern dialect. Whitey begins telling you
about the endearing and humorous qualities of
the fictitious town of Carterville and its people, yet
as the callous practical jokes and dangerous love
triangles unfold, in the end, no one's laughing.
Though you entered Whitey's barbershop a
stranger, you leave a town member. Libby Peterson
HYLAND
