47 pages • 1 hour read
Tom FranklinCrooked Letter, Crooked Letter
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Describe the role of flashbacks in the novel. Why do Larry and Silas become so caught up in the past? How does doing so help them understand themselves?
Why did Silas allow Larry to take the blame for Cindy’s death for so many years? Was Alice right to send Silas away, out of fear of a racial backlash?
Larry references many novels throughout the narrative, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Stephen King’s Night Shift. Choose one of these novels and explain what relevance it has to Larry’s and Silas’s story.
Is Wallace Stringfellow a sympathetic character? Consider his upbringing, his complicated relationship with Larry, and his actions throughout the course of the novel.
After Silas tells Larry that they are half-brothers, Larry reflects that their father Carl “wished you’d been the white one” (255), referring to Silas. Do you agree with Larry? Why might Carl have related more to Silas, and why was Carl’s relationship with Larry so fraught?
Why did the author choose to have Silas and Larry both be narrators of the story? What does it add to have the perspective of both men as the narrative unfolds?
What is the significance of the Walker house being overgrown with kudzu when Silas goes to visit it in Chapter 18? Cindy’s murder has technically been solved, but does it still feel unresolved in some ways?
In the present day, Ina Ott has lost most of her memories, while Larry and Silas continually revisit the past to remember what happened before. What role does memory play in the novel? How can it be shaped, changed, misunderstood, and lost?
After learning that Silas kept the truth about Cindy to himself all these years, Larry ponders the nature of friendship. What role does friendship play in the novel, and how do both Larry and Silas let each other down at times?
The novel ends on a hopeful note, with Silas and Larry looking toward the future. However, the bias against “Scary Larry” seems to run deep. Does it seem likely that the townspeople will really give Larry a second chance? Will Larry continue to keep himself isolated, or will having “a special friend” (like his mother prays for on page 138) be enough to change Larry’s life?
