Tom Franklin - Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter von Tom Franklin. Königs Erläuterungen Spezial.

Symmetries

A fundamental organisational structureof the novel involves contrasting symmetries. This can be seen most significantly in the mirrored events of 1982 and the present day – the disappearances of local girls – and in the two central characters, brothers who are diametric opposites.

There are numerous other examples of symmetries throughout the book. One significant example is the way that Larry and Wallace both wear the zombie maskto scare one another. Larry uses it to frighten young Wallace when he is trespassing (pp. 195–6) and Wallace wears it when he ambushes and shoots Larry (p. 23).

As the two characters who flank Larry, Silas and Wallace are also related in a contrasting symmetry. Both are Larry’s friends. One white, one black, one a half-brother, the other a strange kind of symbolic shadow brother, Wallace and Silasembody the themes and ideas of the novel in their oppositional symmetry.

The two missing girls, Cindy and Tina, also embody certain themes and ideas within the novel.

Two central characters

Larry and Silasare the central characters of the novel. They both tell the story from their own perspective, narrating the past as well as the present. While Larry is the central figure in the novel, Silas is the more active agent: He investigates the crimes, he becomes increasingly drawn into Larry’s world, and, as the plot unfolds, we learn that he is also deeply involved in the issue of how Larry became what and who he is in the present. What also emerges is that these two central characters are in fact brothers.

The majority of the present day level of the novel is told from Silas’ perspective, not least because Larry spends most of the period in question – roughly two weeks from the shooting to the end of the novel – in a coma. In contrast, Chapters 5 and 7, describing the friendship between the boys and the fight over the gun (5) and the events surrounding the disappearance of Cindy Walker (7) are told from Larrys perspective. This is significant because it reinforces the impression we have of Larry as someone who is a prisoner of the past, someone who has been unable to break away from those events and who has been defined by them. Silas is a more active agentin the present day: He investigates, he interacts with people, he moves around. Larry is literally frozen in time – in a coma – for most of the present day narrative of the novel.

Suspense and foreshadowing

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