Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin - Book Report/Review Example

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter’ by Tom Franklin Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Thesis ment 4 Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: Character Analysis 4 Conclusion 7 Work Cited 8 Bibliography 8 Introduction The novel “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” by Tom Franklin appeared before its readers in the year 2010. This piece is author’s third publication and it centers round an unlikely friendship which is spoiled by a crime and racial drift in the backdrop of a small town in Mississippi. The novel deals with the psychological development of humans and their changed relationships owing to the external and the internal changes guided by circumstances and society. The two main character of the novel, Silas Jones and Larry Ott undergoes phenomenal transitions throughout the novel which develops an apt paradigm for the character analysis in the novel. The novel, “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” can be considered as a literary piece catering the themes of a thriller. However, at the same plane, the novel is undoubtedly one of the powerful redemptive studies of characters which make it a psychological tale as well. Thesis Statement This essay intends to explore the subtle intricacies of human character presented in the novel, “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” and therefore forms one of the best suitable and apt formative studies for the character analysis. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: Character Analysis At the outset of the novel, the readers are introduced to a masked man mysterious in nature committing various crimes. However, browsing through the pages of this crime thriller, any sensible mind would be easily able to judge the novel from a different realm as well. An undefined story of friendship lies at the centre of the novel which generates a different flavor for the novel. At this paradigm, the readers are introduced to two characters quite opposite to each other. The characters are Silas Jones, who was called “32” a name he got from his jersey in high school athlete team and the lonely, Larry Ott. He also receives a nickname but quite opposite to Jones. He receives the name of “Scary Larry” after the lineage of the boy with the disappearance of a girl whom she takes for a drive and a date. However, with the development of the novel, the characters conceived by Franklin appear to be quite credible characters with much impression from the real life and flawed by the pragmatic traits of mundane human nature. Larry Ott is a white from a lower-middle-class family and Silas Jones was a black boy who used to stay in a cabin at rent within the premises of the property owned by Larry’s father. Silas was a poor boy from a sole black mother. Their childhood was therefore marked by a total difference of socio-economic parameters and they used to hardly interact with each other in the school for their differences in racial and social status. However, outside the campus of the school, a bond tying the heart of the two boys heading towards adulthood was witnessed by every mind comprehending the sensibility. The boys are seen spending quality time fishing, hunting and wandering into the woods. Their bond was perfect until the time a tragedy struck their lives and set their ways apart. Larry took out a girl for a drive and a movie and eventually after that the girl went missing. Larry was suspected for the incident and Silas moves away from the life of Larry. Time is a fleeting object and one can never ignore the fact that the novel, “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” is also about the trajectory of these characters, their development in life and their changed situations. In the very beginning chapter of the novel, the readers are introduced with Larry, “Larry forty-one years old and single lived alone in rural Mississippi in his parent’s house, which was now his house, though he couldn’t bring himself to think of it that way. He acted more like a curator, keeping the rooms clean, answering the mail and paying bills, turning on the television at the right times and smiling with the laugh tracks, eating McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken to what the networks presented him and then sitting on his front porch as the day bled out of the trees across the field and night settled in, each different, each the same” (Franklin, T., “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel”). From the above mentioned discussion from Franklin, it is evident that the life of Larry has changed a lot after the incident of the girl whom he was dating got missed. All these years, Larry had been a loner and not been able to rise from the pang and scar of the incident which left a long lasting impression in his mind. On the other hand, Silas moves away from the town and Larry’s life and professionally as well as personally he has been able to develop himself. He is a constable and his job makes him confront his age-old friend after the incident of the Rutherford girl missing and an obvious suspicion again. The characterization of the novel portrays that man is guided by external situations and there are circumstances which occur that change the course of entire life of an individual beyond repair and beyond the control of that individual. The lives of all the characters in the novel are somewhere strongly guided by a socio-political and socio-cultural history. Racial difference also plays a very prominent role in shaping the relationships between the characters in the novel. The plotting of the crime thriller contributes much to the development of the characters in the novel guided by the southern menace. Also the novel indicates a turning of the fortune for Larry and Silas. Silas struggled and grew up to be an enforcement officer against all the odds bestowed upon him by his fortune and Larry on the other hand despite having potential support and fortune from his parents could only manage to be a mechanic with very few clients. Conclusion The novel, “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” is a sizzling crime thriller conceived at the backdrop of a small town in Mississippi. Yet, the sharing of the human bonding and the explicit saga of friendship, their departure from each other and confrontation under compelled situation truly captivates the essence of bildungsroman in the novel. William Morrow has rightly commented on the characters conceived by Franklin. Their encounter after almost twenty years have been described by Morrow as “And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past theyve buried and ignored for decades” (Franklin, T., “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel”). It’s very obvious and evident that no matter what, thematic perspective the novel captivates, it’s all about exploring human sentiments and nature and celebrating friendship locked at the core of the novel. Work Cited Franklin, Tom. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel. William Morrow, 2010. Bibliography Charles, Ron. “Tom Franklins Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Reviewed by Ron Charles”. April 20, 2012. The Washington Post Company, 2010. Read More