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What is the central conflict of "Just Lather, That's All"? Is it external or internal? Is it a dilemma?

In "Just Lather, That's All," the central conflict is internal because it involves the barber and his dilemma over whether to kill Captain Torres. On the one hand, he wants to kill the Captain because he is a violent and brutish man. For example, the Captain describes the public hanging of four men as a "fine show." Moreover, the barber and the Captain are members of two opposing factions and, for the barber, this is a rare opportunity to kill his enemy.


On the other hand, though, the barber has no such thirst for violence. In fact, he is opposed to the very idea of committing murder:



"No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a murderer."



While the barber eventually decides against killing the Captain, it is this internal dilemma which drives the plot of the story.

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