“Haircut” is a short story by American writer Ring Lardner, first published in 1925.^[1] It is told from the perspective of a loquacious barber as he recounts the story of a town prankster named Jim Kendall.

The story is a bleak satire on warped small-town morality and considered Lardner’s most famous work outside of sports writing.^[2]

Plot summary

The story takes the form of a monologue told entirely by a barber named Whitey to an unnamed customer. He reminisces fondly about a deceased man named Jim Kendall, whose practical jokes become increasingly disturbing as the monologue progresses.

Whitey explains how Jim, a local resident and regular customer, would frequent the barbershop and engage in repartee with others there, although all of his remarks are insults. It is also revealed that Jim has an estranged relationship with his wife and family, as he is an unemployed alcoholic. He originally held a job as a traveling canned goods salesman, taking note of various names and addresses he encountered. Afterwards, he would send strangers anonymous postcards with messages such as, “Ask your Missus who kept her from gettin' lonesome the last time you were in Carterville.” Despite these cruel jokes, Whitey presents Jim's behavior as being comical, calling him "a caution" or "a character."

One day, Jim tricks his wife and children into attending the town fair while he abandons them to go drink. Doc Stair, a handsome young coroner, finds the family and offers to buy tickets for them himself. Stair is gregarious and is close friends with a mentally disabled child named Paul Dickson and an educated young woman named Julie Gregg. Upon discovering the incident at the fair, Jim proclaims he is deeply attracted to Julie and openly flirts with her. She dislikes him for his jokes, so he instead attempts to rape her; she narrowly escapes and he is merely given a warning by the local police. Jim boasts about tormenting Julie in the barbershop, where it is overheard by Paul Dickson. Paul relays the story to Stair, who then mentions in passing that Jim should not be allowed to live.

Upon discovering that he has no one to go duck-hunting with, Jim reluctantly allows Paul to go. Later that same day, the town is informed that Jim has been shot dead with his own gun. The townsfolk believe that Paul had handled the gun improperly and Doc Stair rules the shooting an accidental death. Whitey finally declares that Jim “certainly was a card,” before asking the customer if they want their hair combed wet or dry.

Analysis

Like much of Lardner’s writing, the story is a biting commentary on the everyday codes of American culture. Some analysts have cited “Haircut” as satirizing the complicity of small-town life and the lack of moral consciousness on the part of its characters.^[2]

Editor Max Perkins wrote that, after reading the story, he couldn’t “shake it out of my mind; in fact the impression it made has deepened with time.”^[3] Literary critic Elizabeth Hardwick referred to it in her retrospective on Lardner, Ring, as “one of the cruelest pieces of American fiction.”^[4]

References