LOGIN | NEU REGISTRIEREN

Schule > Englisch > Tom Franklin - Crooked Letter > Comment on "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" by Tom Franklin

Comment on "Crooked Letter"

The disappearance of Cindy Walker is one of the mayor events in Tom Franklins novel "Crooked Letter". It also has a big impact on the life of the protagonist Larry Ott. After Cindy Walker went missing, Larry Ott is suspected to be the murderer, but doesn"t get arrested, because Cindy Walkers body cannot be found. Nevertheless, this incident changes Larry"s whole life.

The suspicion and pressure on Larry eventually leads to the ruin of his family. His relationship to his father, which was already bad before the incident happened, gets even worse. His father doesn"t speak to him anymore and starts drinking heavily. His mother becomes depressed and later suffers from Alzheimer, which is why she is moved to a nursing home.

Larry becomes an outsider and even receives the nickname "Scary Larry". He has no friends and is completely isolated while living in his house with chickens and working in his dad"s garage, which generates no income. The whole town thinks of him as a monster, for which reason local kids frequently come to his home to taunt him.
His loneliness leads Larry to becoming friends with Wallace Stringfellow, who is fascinated by the stories of "Scary Larry". If the event with Cindy Walker hadn"t happened, Wallace would probably not have killed Tina Rutherford. Larry also gets immediately accused for the murder of Tina Rutherford, because he already has the image of the monster. This eventually ends in the shooting of Larry himself, because Wallace Stringfellow wanted to stage Larry"s suicide.

In conclusion, the disappearance of Cindy Walker started all the problems in Larry"s life. From that point on, Larry"s life changes dramatically, dropping out of high school, becoming an outsider, ruined family life, getting ostracized and eventually being the inspiration for Wallace Stringfellow"s murder of Tina Rutherford 25 years later.

Download: DOCX