Ever wonder what inspires some authors to write these amazing stories filled with all sorts of emotion and have you wanting more? Well, an author’s personal life is the reason for all this inspiration, Edgar Allan Poe is one of those authors. He uses the death of his loved ones and the fact that he was never formally adopted to create these depressing, sad, and creepy stories. Such as, “The Tell-Tall Heart” and “The Cask of Amontiato”. Similar to Poe, S.E. Hilton also uses her personal life to influence her writing. Hilton uses the social problems in her school and the importance to have another life to create her wonderful book, The Outsiders. This book shows the importance of friendship and the cruelty of stereotyping. Both Poe and Hilton’s life affected their writing in many ways.
Poe’s personal life was influenced in his writing as depressing, sad, and disappointing. Poe’s writing was surrounded by the two big themes depressing and death. An example of creepy would be the narrator kills the old man because of his eye in “The Tell-Tall Heart.” This is creepy because a man plots to kill an old man that he loves because he is terrified of his eyes. Then later proceeds to cut him up and hide him under his floor (Great Books). Montresor is taking pleasure in listening to Fortunato suffer and stops his work to hear him better is an example of death and creepy in “The Cask of Amontiato” (Poe). This is death because Fortunato was tortured and kill for no real reason. This is also creepy because Montresor actually takes pleasure in listening to Fortunato scream.
In Poe’s life, he was surrounded by death and sadness. Poe’s mom, foster mom, and wife all die from the same disease, Tuberculosis, around the same age (Great Books). This is death because all three women that he loved died from the same thing. This probably made him depressed and blames himself. Also never been formally adopted added to his sadness and guilt (Mabbott and Perkins). This added to sadness because both his mom and dad died and he had no siblings. Then when he finally finds a home, they do not want to really adopt him. This made him feel left out of his family.
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Like Poe, S.E. Hinton’s life affects the way she writes. One way Hinton shows her life in her writing is when she says, “But I didn’t just write The Outsiders, I lived it” (Hinton). This connects her life and The Outsiders because not only did she write this story, but she made the characters live through her problems and life. So basically her life is theirs and their life is hers. Hinton also tells about the social situation in her High School. This is the same in The Outsiders because in their time there is a Social problem. People are grouped as a Socs or Greaser. In both they are having social problems and people are being stereotyped based on their appearances. Hinton address in her letter the importance in having another life to deal with their problems. In the book, the Greasers wish to have another life where it was different from their reality because they have it difficult, are mistreated, and stereotyped based on their appearance and living condition. In both they do not like their lives and wish to be someone else so they do not have to worry and deal with their problems.
