“a little more lather here under the chin, on the adam’s apple, right near the great vein. how hot it is! torres must be sweating just as i am. but he is not afraid. he is a tranquil man, who is not even giving thought to what he will do to his prisoners this evening. i, on the other hand, polishing his skin with this razor but avoiding the drawing of blood, careful with every stroke—i cannot keep my thoughts in order. confound the hour he entered my shop! i am a revolutionary but not a murderer. and it would be so easy to kill him. he deserves it. or does he? no! no one deserves the sacrifice others make in becoming assassins. what is to be gained by it? nothing. others and still others keep coming, and the first kill the second, and then these kill the next, and so on until everything becomes a sea of blood. i could cut his throat, so, swish, swish! he would not even have time to moan, and with his eyes shut he would not even see the shine of the razor or the gleam in my eye. but i’m shaking like a regular murderer. from his throat a stream of blood would flow on the sheet, over the chair, down on my hands, onto the floor. i would have to close the door. but the blood would go flowing along the floor, warm, indelible, not to be staunched, until it reached the street like a small scarlet river. i’m sure that with a good strong blow, a deep cut, he would feel no pain. he would not suffer at all. and what would i do then with the body? where would i hide it? i would have to flee, leave all this behind, take shelter far away, very far away. but they would follow until they caught up with me. “the murderer of captain torres. he slit his throat while he was shaving him. what a cowardly thing to do! ” and others would say, “the avenger of our people. a name to remember”—my name here. “he was the town barber. no one knew he was fighting for our cause.” and so, which will it be? murderer or hero? my fate hangs on the edge of this razor blade.” in order to understand a character's motivation, readers must first look at which aspect of characterization as shown in the passage above?

appearance

thoughts/emotions/beliefs

dramatic monologue

behavior/actions