Does an Author’s Life Influence Literary Works

Do you ever curious about the main character in your favourite book?

I normally search authors information before or after reading books, and I discovered some of the main characters in my favourite books linked to the authors’ life.

One of my favourite characters is Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr.Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith. In this novel, Tom was orphan and raised by icy auntie who usually teased him, sissy. He was living in New York City when he was offered from Herbert Greenleaf to persuade his son, Dickie, who enjoyed living in Europe to return home. He agreed and travelled to Italy. He later committed two murders. In order to continually achieve his American dream, he assumed Dickie’s identity, lived his new life and visited many places in Europe — Rome, Venice. About Tom’s personalities, he did not like to involve himself in society and often was jealous when he saw Marge and Dickie together. The novel, however, was still ambiguous about Tom and Dickie’s relationship.

“Murder is a kind of making love, a kind of possessing” — wrote in Highsmith’s diary, 1950

From above, these reflected to Highsmith’s life. Highsmith was very successful and commercially in Europe, but she harbored an unfulfilled desire to be recognized in America, just like Tom Ripley did. When she was young, she lived with her grandmother then moved to live with her mother and stepfather who did not adapt her properly. She hated her mother because she never got love from her. Highsmith had to cure her sexuality because she attracted to women, but homosexuality was a disease to be treated in that society that why she wrote Ripley’s gender in ambiguous way instead writing directly he was gay. She liked to travelled frequently. She had moved to England and French then lived in Tegna, an Italian-speaking part in Switzerland, to the last of her life.

In my opinion, she wrote Tom Ripley as herself in male version because women did not have much role in that time. Women had to stay at home and do housework, while men can do everything, independent to travel.

I like how Ripley reflected to how humanity is. I believe morality is not deeply rooted in human nature. We have both evil and morality, and we use them to move our motivations. You might think Tom Ripley was psychopathic but Highsmith was not. She believed, Ripley was living more lucidly and more purposefully than most human beings are capable of doing.

“The psychopath is an average man living more clearly than the world permits him.” — Patricia Highsmith