THE REFLECTION OF THE AUTHOR’S LIFE ON THE CHARACTERS’ LIFE IN HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Abstract

This thesis discusses To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee who uses several people around her to inspire the characters in her novel. The study of the novel concerns on the reflection of the author’s life on the characters’ life in the novel. The data used in this thesis are collected by library research and any printed materials, such as, dictionaries, books, articles, journals, and cybernetic resources. Meanwhile, mimesis and biographical criticism are used in this thesis. The method used in this thesis is inductive method. The specific data are concerned with the characters’ life in the novel as the reflection, such as, Scout, Dill, Atticus, Jem Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. This thesis describes their characteristics and their jobs which are similar with the author and people around the author. Based on the novel, Scout lives with her brother and her father that is the reflection of the author’s life who lives with a single father. Scout also plays with Dill as her friend who lives at his aunt’s house which is the next door of Scout’s house every summer. Dill is the reflection of Truman Capote as the author’s friend in the reality who lives at his aunt’s house which is the next door of the author’s house every summer. The story also explains about Scout who meets a good man (Boo Radley) when she is injured by attack at one night after she has Halloween show. Boo Radley is Scout’s neighbor who is the reflection of the author’s neighbors. Tom Robinson and his family also enter in Scout’s life when Scout’s father defends Tom Robinson. The fictitious character x (Tom Robinson) is inspired by several persons in the author’s reality and in this case, Tom Robinson’s character is a product of the author’s creativity. The result of the study in this thesis shows that there are similarities between the author’s life and the characters’ life in the novel particularly in the characteristics and the activities.