Throughout Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter,
Tom Franklin, a southern man himself, illustrates Larry Ott as a meek yet
defiant boy growing up in Mississippi. Larry’s small town still stands racially
divided: a common trait in a land still stricken by the effects of the Jim Crow
era. Larry often conflicts with his
father, Carl Ott, in regards to the social boundaries that he crosses when he
befriends a black boy, Silas Jones. The bigotry that Larry experiences still
stands in America today, as one in every eight Americans identifies themselves as
racist. If I could advise Larry Ott during his troubled childhood, I
would recommend that he separates himself from his father’s cruel antics in
order to gain happiness with Silas at his side. Franklin first indicates Larry’s
destructive relationship with his father when he states that Carl “liked…everyone
except him” (38). Franklin applies situational irony in this instance in regards
to the love a father should feel for his son. He also implies the shame that
Carl feels towards his son, a pain that Larry must escape in order to develop
self- confidence. Again Carl Ott delivers more erroneous lessons when he refers
to Silas as “‘that nigger boy’” (84). Through the negative denotations of “nigger,”
Franklin indirectly characterizes Carl as hateful. In order to avoid such narrow-minded
thinking, Larry must escape his father’s ignorance. Carl Ott ultimately displays
his true colors when he confronts Silas about the gun he borrows from Larry, and Carl tells the boys to “‘fight’” (89). By pitting Silas and Larry against each
other, Franklin implies the end of the unusual friendship. If Larry had a
single friend when entering high school, he could have avoided the solitary
life that he eventually leads. Overall, Franklin addresses many issues in the
first third of his book. He criticizes the actions of men similar to Carl Ott
in order to convince them to act open-minded instead of ignorant. He also addresses
isolated children similar to Larry to convince them to approach new people to
gain their friendship. After the first third of the novel, I hope that
Larry finally defies his father, and that other neglected children find the courage
to do the same.
After reading your post, I cannot help but wonder if Silas friendship might come as a detriment to Larry. As previously stated, the towns people have issues with racism; therefore, I wonder how the town views his friendship with an African American boy. If I was a towns person at the time I do not think I would approve of such friendship, which leads me to believe that his fathers racism is a form of protection for his son.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with your statement that Larry would only gain benefits if he separated himself from his father. It caused nothing but stress and unnecessary hardships. Kids should not have to live in restraint like Larry lived, and I think that if his father let him free, Larry's life could have turned out completely different.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your idea that Larry should run from his father in order to achieve a better life. This seems very similar to me to Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes in that Frank ran from his homeland in order to make a better life for himself. People who live in abusive homes such as Larry and Frank should take the initiative to look out for themselves and get out of their situation.
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