This was an extremely long story, but a great one. The references to the Johnson’s clubbed foot was a symbol to the boys short-comings. Johnsons always seemed like he has a glimpse of brilliance, however it was only Sheppard that saw it. For that reason, Sheppard thought he was the only one that had the chance to save Johnson. This was symbolically represented in the purchase of the prosthetic shoe. Sheppard was trying to make up for the boy’s clubbed foot by purchasing the shoe, just as Sheppard was trying to make up for the boy’s moral short-comings. However, the boy refused the help of Sheppard, as well as the specially made shoe.
When the crimes were committed, I had actually suspected it was Norton doing the crimes to get attention from his father, sort of like an attempt to frame Johnson. So the ending did surprise me a bit, especially the final actions of Norton. It was very sad to think of Sheppard’s little boy hanging in the attic near the telescope, all because Sheppard wanted to try to help someone. This presented a lesson to the reader, that you must look after your own before you try to look after others. Sheppard was guilty of constantly putting the hooligan child before his own, and he paid dearly for it. Even when Norton showed an interest in the stars like Sheppard wanted, he was still ignored.
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