Tsk Tsk: A Severe Reprimand Is In Order

      If I could step into the book, I would like to give the residents of Chabot a well-deserved tirade and display to them the obvious innocence of Larry Ott.  Driven by rampant misconceptions, they have treated Larry unjustly for twenty-five years of his life.  Merging the reputation of Larry with circumstantial evidence, an entire town has convinced itself that a good citizen has committed murderous atrocities.  The moment that Larry decided to “see if [Cindy Walker] was home safe” spurred a quarter of a century of hatred, leading to copious abandonment and mistrust (133).  Franklin uses Larry as a synecdoche for Chabot’s blame and insecurities in order to highlight the stupidity in believing assumptions.  Franklin makes the assertion that in times of confusion, people naturally make irrational decisions.  Amid the chaos and grief of Cindy’s death, Chabot targeted its sorrow and frustration at one person: Larry.  For the members of the Ott family, their lives at that point had frozen “as if in a picture”, scorned by their fellow neighbors and cast into eternal shame (136).  Franklin employs the simile for the Ott’s situation to accentuate how ridicule can immobilize its victims.  Overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation, Larry’s parents fell into depression and never return to their former selves.  The Otts need an advocate on their side, someone who can bridge the gap.  Without this advocate or any conclusive evidentiary support, Chabot townspeople will always  falsely think they ‘“know who…raped… and killed [Cindy]”’ (179).  The situational irony of how the supposed killer in actuality has never hurt a human being creates pathos by evoking a sentiment of indignation from persons who have experienced unwarranted prejudice.   While reading “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter”, I found myself mentally shouting in a fit of anger at how people treat Larry.  I want to set the record straight in Chabot and reveal the need for a massive amount of apology letters.  The fact that Larry has retained his sanity for so long truly amazes me, but I believe that he can live dejected only for so long.  Whenever a scenario like Larry’s presents itself, people close to the suspect should trust their instincts over rumor.