“Shaving” is a short story by Leslie Norris. It tells the story of a man who shaves his head in order to feel more comfortable in his own skin.
The story begins with the protagonist, John, feeling self-conscious about his hair. He has been losing it for years and it has started to thin out. In an effort to make himself feel better, he decides to shave it all off.
At first, John feels liberated by his new look. He no longer has to worry about his hair falling out or how it looks. However, he soon starts to feel like he is losing his identity. His wife and children don’t recognize him without his hair and he starts to feel like a stranger in his own home.
John begins to feel like he is losing himself and decides to grow his hair back. He slowly starts to feel like himself again and realizes that shaving his head was not the answer to his problems.
This story is about a man who learns that shaving his head is not the answer to his self-confidence issues. He learns that he needs to accept himself for who he is, balding head and all.
In Leslie Norris’ short story “Shaving,” a young boy’s coming-of-age tale emphasizes the importance of having a strong and responsible adult leader in the family. In “Shaving,” Barry, the protagonist, is faced with the duty of caring for his father as he approaches death. After school, Barry comes home to shave his father because he is too sick to do it himself.
This is a very important task because if the father died with whiskers it would be a disgrace to the family. Shaving his father also makes Barry feel like a man and he is proud to do it. When Barry finishes shaving his father, he feels like he has accomplished something great.
The short story “Shaving” by Leslie Norris is a coming-of-age piece that tells the story of Barry, a young boy who must take on the responsibility of shaving his father’s face when his father becomes too ill to do it himself. Throughout the story, Norris stresses the importance of family and the need for a strong leader within the family unit.
When Barry finishes shaving his father, he feels pride in his accomplishment and a sense of responsibility for his father’s well-being. This experience helps to shape Barry into a man, and he learns the importance of taking on leadership roles within his family. Norris uses this story to emphasize the need for strong leaders within families, and the importance of coming of age experiences in shaping young people into responsible adults.
The quotation “For that, you must be a good example” shows how the author used symbolism and metaphor to show Leslie’s father taking up duties from her late husband. The passage also emphasizes this idea through words like “ascend,” which refers to the ascent of man in general and not just that of Dr. Strangelove’s character “Barry.” Furthermore, Dr. Strangelove plays off against sky imagery, implying that he is ready to take on his father’s responsibilities in the family; hence, it is important for him to achieve success despite any opposition or adversity.
When the story begins, it is summertime and Barry is outside playing with his friends. He is carefree and happy, enjoying his youth. However, when winter comes, things change. Barry must go inside and help his father with the chores. Shaving becomes one of these chores.
At first, shaving is something that Barry doesn’t want to do. He finds it difficult and uncomfortable. However, over time he starts to enjoy it. He starts to feel grown up and responsible. When his father dies, Barry takes over the role of patriarch of the family. Shaving becomes a symbol of his new role.
Leslie Norris uses direct characterization to show that Barry is ready to become patriarch of the family. Barry’s father is ill and can’t do the chores anymore. This means that Barry has to take over. He is reluctant at first, but he soon starts to enjoy it. When his father dies, he doesn’t hesitate to take on the responsibility of being patriarch.
Norris also uses contrast with weather to show that Barry is ready to become patriarch of the family. When the story begins, it is summertime and Barry is outside playing with his friends. He is carefree and happy, enjoying his youth. However, when winter comes, things change. Barry must go inside and help his father with the chores. Shaving becomes one of these chores. Winter symbolizes the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood.
In “Shaving,” Leslie Norris depicts the emergence of Barry as a potential leader of the family through direct characterization. Barry is mature and powerful, yet his father is frail and must now rely on him for everything. Norris starts illustrating this idea by describing how “He strode firmly now and often alone. He was tall, well built; his hands and feet were adult and substantial. The space in which he’d spent his entire life had grown too confined” (Norris 1).
Norris is showing the reader that Barry has outgrown his childish things and is now a man. He even shaves which is a common activity for men to do, but is also a “symbol of manhood” (Baldwin 2).
Shaving shows that Barry can take care of himself and does not need anyone else to do it for him. This is in complete contrast to his father who is described as being “pale” with a “long face” that was “thin and drawn” (Norris 1). Norris wants the reader to see that Barry is ready to step up and become the head of the family because his father can no longer do it. Leslie Norris uses direct characterization to contrast the father and son to show that Barry is ready to take on the role as the man of the house.
