If one wants to stop something from happening, he or she needs to take action to stop it. A barber in the story "Dry September" by William Faulkner is presented with the situation of stopping an innocent man from being killed and stops short of helping the innocent man. Edmund Burke's "All that is essential for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" is the same situation that the barber went through. I believe what Burke says because you need to do something to prevent evil from succeeding. If one does nothing in order to stop evil, then it will prevail.
In the story, "Dry September" by William Faulkner, there is a rumor that a black man named Will Mayes has raped a white woman named Minnie Cooper. During the story a barber defends Will Mays by saying, '"I dont believe Will Mays did it,' the barber said.
William Faulkner, 1954
Edmund Burke
Smelling out a Rat, a caricature of Price with Edm...'I know Will Mayes'"(724) and "'I dont believe anybody did anything. I dont believe anything happened'"(724). The barber tries to convince the other towns people that Will Mayes is innocent by saying, "'I dont believe anybody did anything. I dont believe anything happened. I leave it to you fellows if them ladies that get old without getting married dont have that a man cant--"'(724). None of the town's people believe what the barber said because accusing a white woman of lying was unheard of. Later on a man named McLendon, who commanded troops at the front in France, convinces a bunch of people in the barber shop to go out and look for Will Mayes, the barber quickly follows. McLendon eventually locates Will Mayes and ends up killing him. The barber wants to help Mayes but he does not do anything to help Will Mayes...