THE BARBERY WHOSE UNCLE HAD HIS HEAD BITTEN BY A CIRCUS TIGER

Short story by William Saroyan


1)Why the boy had to be told by other people to get a haircut?

Probably because he has bushy curly hair and it is problem to cut it well. The last time he was in the barbershop it was over at the barber college across the tracs. He is a little poor boy so he went there because it was for free. It was at the beginning of the school year so the boy was cut by new barbers student. But this new haircut was that bad, he feared to go in this barbery again. After one month his hair grew like never before. “His head was too big for the world.“

2) What hints does the beginning of the story give about Aram‘s talents as a barber?
He didn’t has clients and his shop was empty all the time, so evidently he wasn’t known as a talented barber.

3)How did the barber receive his young customer?
He received him very heartily and kindly, offered him a coffee, told him to sit down and started to narrate a story about his uncle.

4)What did the boy think of the barber, and why?
He thought that the barber was wise, kind, and experienced. He found him remarkable and interesting.

5)Why did uncle Misak accept the job with the circus?
Because when he was a young and strong he didn’t economize and when he became older and he couldn’t earn money the same way he was poor. So he was wandering from Constantinopol to Vienna, to Berlin, to New York and around the whole world but all the time he nearly starved to death, he was lost, he was lonely and nobody wanted to help him. But when he went to China, he met an Arab from French circus. This man started to talk to him. Musak loved animals - and also he was starving - that is why he started to work there. I think that he was also influenced by his loneliness.

6)Why did the boy look forward to his next haircut?

The boy looked forward to the next haircut because he wanted to hear the story of barber’s uncle again, because he treated this story actual for every body.

7) Why did I like the book?
I liked the story very well, it was interesting. The story was an easy reading. What I found interesting about the story of Musak is narrating by a third person (by the boy). I also liked that even the story was about a sad and poor uncle, who died so distressfully, the reading was humorous.