This story, set for the most part inside of a barber shop, is a tale of an outcast. The outcast is not a criminal, a foreigner, or even someone with a physical deformity; he is just a man that believes in racial equality, while living in a town and region that believes in a racial hierarchy.
Rayber, a college professor, while simply trying to receive a shave, is bombarded by political questions from the barber. He wants to know who Rayber is going to vote for; when the answer isn’t to his liking, he responds by asking if he is “a nigger-lover.” This sets up a debate about beliefs, principles, and race that takes place over the course of three separate visits to the barbershop—each one causing Rayber to become more upset and more sure that he is definitely smarter than his fellow townspeople.
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and thirty-two short.
Jan 30, 2016 In this next short story by Flannery O’Connor, the narrator brings us into a barber shop, where two (and more) men, discuss who they will vote for in “the Democratic White Primary” (p. 15) Our main character, Rayber, wants to vote for Darmon, the candidate that supports African American equality. Flannery O'Connor had a way of writing irony. She, like other southern writers like Warren, Faulkner, and Clancy, understood that Southern relations are rarely only about authority or correctness - they are about ironic structure, which may raise issues of authority or correctness, but exists as a distinctive ptolemaic of the Southern mind.
During the week before the third and final visit to barbershop, Rayber spends his time penning a speech to deliver to the men in the shop, hoping that he will be able to convey his reasons for voting for the “nigger-loving” candidate. Ultimately, his speech is met with mockery and derision, and Rayber loses his composure. He punches the barber, and walks out the shop, still wearing the barber’s drape. The end.
The Barber Flannery O'connor Summary
Now, while the story is pretty straightforward, I think it is important to mention the significance of Rayber’r role. He is a college professor, an advocate of higher education, but he is also a white man in the South who believes in racial equality, but he does not know how to be a successful activist for the cause. His education, though important, does not give him the gift of moral persuasion, and this is where his shortcomings begin to appear. The audience understands his point, but we are also aware that intelligence is not equivalent to superiority, thus we are able to see that, even though Rayber is true in his belief in racial equality, he is not a believer in human equality. In trying to convince the men that they are not superior to blacks, he instead ends up showing us that he thinks he is superior to those same men, because he is educated. O’Connor demonstrates the shortcomings in all humans, regardless of race or education level, and the character of Rayber is the vehicle she uses in “The Barber.”
The Barber Flannery O'connor Pdf
'It is trying being a liberal in Dalton,' begins 'The Barber,' the second story from O'Connor's masters thesis. It's all too easy to relate to this story; the story of the educated Southern integrationist faced with all the ingrown racism and insensitivity of the ignorant. Naturally the topic of politics comes up when he's least able to escape - trapped in his tormenter's chair, half lathered and half shaven.
The protagonist gets angrier and angrier as he fails to find the right words or the perfect cutting phrase to disarm his mob of opponents. He then makes the ludicrous decision to go home and write a speech to convince the barber and other patrons of their ignorance and stupidity in matters of race and politics. And naturally, the whole episode ends in complete and utter humiliation.
While one of the great pleasures of reading O'Connor is the fun she makes of ignorant rednecks, there is equally an element of frustration reading such stories (or perhaps that's just my own frustration coloring my reading of the story). Maybe it's because race seems to have re-entered the national conversation in such heinous ways (There's no KKK in Barbour land!). But at least this story is quite funny, in the sense that you want to laugh even while you grit your teeth.