Ottomotive is back in buissness

After Larry "checks himself out" from the hospital at the end of the Tom Franklin's 2010 novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter a new chapter of his life begins to unfold for the better. Thus the most important exchange signifying this comes when Silas, whom dumped Larry as a friend and ignored him in the past, asks "you might look at the carburetor for me?" (271). This simple question has so much underlying meaning to it and represents a positive change in not only Silas' persona in that of a reignited friendship with Larry, but also Larry's acceptance in his town of Chabot. Silas acts as a synecdoche for the habitants of Chabot whom previously ostracized Larry, unfairly, but now accept him due to his proven innocence. This newfound change in acceptance presents itself in Silas' inquiry to Larry's mechanical skills left untapped due to his conviction as a killer. Throughout the novel, Franklin uses Larry's mechanic shop as a symbol of his loneliness: "the bay door always raised and waiting", "hoping for a knock, a belt to squeal" (27,95). The parallelism of his lonely life, cast aside by society finally gets put to rest when Silas asks Larry this simple question. Silas' friendly tone via the casual diction of "you" infers a level of new found intimacy with Larry that no single person has established since Cindy Walker went missing. Thus establishing he will become the first customer of Ottomotive in decades signifying a formal end to his ostracization when the bay doors click open with a defined purpose as opposed to sitting open and waiting.Furthermore, I think the synecdoche of Silas evolves through this question to hint that from now on the same people who called the poor man "Scary Larry" will now stop by his shop to get their muffler replaced and talk about the last Cubs game.