A traumatic event can lead to one’s coming of age and becoming the master of a family. The short story “Shaving” is an insightful glimpse into the transition of a child to a leader. It occurs during a traumatic event in the protagonist’s life as his father is ill and near death as it is foreshadowed multiple times in the story. The young adolescent, Barry, has the responsibility to take care of his dad and proposes to shave him, the short story symbolizes the action of shaving as his transition to the leader of the family. In “shaving” Leslie Norris instills a sense of weakness and mortality in order to convey one’s development to a patriarch.
In the story’s initial part, Norris illustrates the protagonist as a strong, maturing individual to later compare him to his father and further emphasize his coming of age. Barry is walking “alone” in the streets “solidly” looking “tall”, and “strongly made”, his hands and feet are “adult”(1). The protagonist's manly, robust features are implemented at the very beginning of the story through very rooted, powerful diction. It further promotes the idea that Barry is ready to enter adulthood. Perhaps, the streets represent his life, thus, he is now able to go through it alone and still stay stable. As the story advances, the father’s face is “fine-skin” and “pallid” (2) and is needed to be shaved. This very feeble diction portrays the father figure as, now, very weak which indicates that it is time for Barry to take over. This is justified when the father lets his son shave him, which is considered a fatherly action. He is letting his authority go and passing it on to his son.
Later on in the story, Norris further juxtaposes father and son to highlight the protagonist’s maturing. Barry is preparing the tray with all the tools needed to shave his father. But Barry notices the cup since “The cup was much older than him and it had a “pattern of fine translucent cracks” (4). This cup depicts the protagonist’s father as old and frail. The cracks in the cup signify the father’s defeat. Furthermore, as he proceeds to get the tray ready he takes the razor which is in a leather case with a “broken hinge” (4). This strengthens the idea that Barry’s father is dwindling. Moreover, Barry utilizes broken equipment, which represents his dad, to perform the manly action that relinquishes authority. He is shaving, taking away his father’s authority with his father’s own weakness.
In the story’s exposition, Norris contrasts the ending to the introduction using weather to amplify the idea that the father is willing to abandon his place in the family for his son. Norris begins hinting at this message as the beginning of the story progresses with the window having “An overnight frost” (1). At the end of the story, when his father is implied to be deceased, “The window was full in the beam of dying sunlight” and he standing in the “golden warmth” (6). This expresses the protagonist’s change from boy to man. The golden warmth represents his father looking upon him knowing that he will soon be a father himself. In the beginning, the window is covered and the opportunity is not present, however, at the end of the story he is open and ready to become a patriarch and take over the family with his dad’s approval and guidance.
It’s a parent’s job to look after their children, however, in some cases, the children have to look after the parent. One’s thorough struggle can lead to his transition to leadership and caretaker.