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Who Inspires Great Writers?

My absolute favorite book is ​To Kill a Mockingbird,​ by Harper Lee. The story in this

novel is incredible and it is the best written piece of literature I have ever read or at least the one

that speaks to me the most. Harper Lee, being the phenomenal writer she is, obviously was

inspired by some great writers. One of her biggest inspirations, was actually her childhood

friend, who inspired her character of Dill in ​To Kill a Mockingbird​. Her best friend turns out to

be Truman Capote, who is also a great writer.

Before this assignment, I have never read anything by Capote or even heard of his name

so I had to do the following research on him to learn about him as an author. According to the

Encyclopedia of World Biography, “Many of the stories are filled with bizarre incidents and

characters suffering from mental and physical disorders. Yet some of the tales have a humorous

tone. Critics often place his early fiction into two categories: light stories or bizarre stories. In

later years Capote commented that many of those stories reflected the anxiety and feelings of

insecurity he experienced as a child.” (“Truman Capote Biography”) Moreover, Capote used his

real life experiences in his stories which is something, I as a reader appreciate, as it makes it

more relatable.

Truman’s most popular pieces of literature include ​Breakfast at Tiffany’s​, ​A Christmas

Memory​, ​Miriam ​and ​The Thanksgiving Visitor​. Since I have always enjoyed the movie, I

decided to read the book ​Breakfast at Tiffany’s. ​I enjoyed the book more than the movie and was

glad I had the opportunity to read it. I definitely plan on reading many more of Capote’s stories

because I really like the way he tells them. I’m planning on reading ​In Cold Blood​ over the

summer.
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“ I was curious about who inspired Capote since I discovered Capote by looking at who

inspires my favorite author. “Many of Capote's early stories were written when he was in his

teens and early twenties. Collected in A Tree of Night and Other Stories, these stories show the

influence of Gothic writers such as Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–

1864), and William Faulkner (1897–1962).” (Truman Capote Biography) I absolutely love

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing but do not think I have ever read anything by William Faulkner,

so I’m most certainly going to check him out. Faulkner must be good if Capote was inspired by

his writing.

It’s fascinating to see how these two childhood friends, Lee and Capote, wrote pieces of

literature that are considered classics today. It is difficult to believe that two childhood friends

both followed their dreams and became wildly successful writers. Unfortunately, their friendship

did not last because Capote was envious of the success of Lee’s ​To Kill a Mockingbird. ​Both of

these authors used their real life experiences as inspiration in their writing. For example Capote’s

Breakfast at Tiffany’s​, main character, Holly Golightly, was inspired by a promiscuous woman

Capote knew. Harper Lee’s ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ is filled with inspiration from real life

experiences. The main character Scout, is based off of her own self as Lee was considered a

tomboy when she was a child. Using real life experiences to create their stories is a huge

similarity of these two great authors.

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Works Cited

“Truman Capote Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, www.notablebiographies.com

/Ca-Ch/Capote-Truman.html. Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.