Silas at Larry's defense

     Throughout the novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, the author Tom Franklin illustrates a person who became the product of incessant ostracism. This character, Larry Ott, endured judgment and exclusion from the community of Chabot, Mississippi. Marla, an infamous employee at the town’s diner, The Hub, explains that the “whole county thinks he’s a kidnaper or rapist or murderer or all three” (94). Franklin uses this hyperbole to explicate the negative reputation associated with Larry, and more importantly, to show how few people genuinely tolerate him without judgment. However, despite the lack of sympathy for Larry, Silas Jones, the town’s sheriff and old friend of Larry’s, constantly defends him and rewards him with benefit of the doubt. Besides Silas’s reservations when it comes to communicating with Larry, he remains unbiased when Larry’s innocence becomes questioned. Silas’s understanding attitude towards the town’s outcast leads me to respect him more as a person. I appreciate his will to believe the best in someone until they can be proven guilty. For example, when Larry’s innocence becomes doubted following the disappearance of a local girl when he was a young boy and when history repeated itself after about 30 years, Silas remains consistent in Larry’s defense saying, “I just don’t think he’s got it in him” (141). Personally, I judge Silas as “right” morally, putting discernment aside and instead valuing what he knows as the truth. Those who judge Larry and even those who support him do not know entirely what happened between him and the girl who disappeared in his past, Cindy Walker. But unlike the townspeople, Silas does not jump to conclusions about Larry. Franklin writes with dramatic irony, which allows his readers to hold knowledge that the townspeople do not have. With this writing style, the readers gain a perspective in which they also will want to stand up for Larry’s innocence, paralleling Silas’s attitude. Although it would become expected for Silas to shun Larry similar to the rest of the town due to their shared past, he remains professional. Growing up, Silas and Larry became fast friends despite their demographic differences, until their friendship came to an abrupt end as a result of Larry’s drunk and malicious father, Carl Ott. After the physical fight they were forced into by Carl, emotional evidence lingered with Silas for years to come. However, he did not allow these memories and past assumptions to control his beliefs of Larry. Moreover, I, like Franklin, admire Silas’s open-mindedness regarding the criticisms of Larry.