The town in the novel, Ithaca, California, is based on the real town of Fresno, California, Saroyan's hometown. The story of The Human Comedy, including the characters Homer and Ulysses in particular, is based on Saroyan's life, living fatherless with his siblings and his mother. Marcus Macauley – Homer's elder brother, enrolled in the Army.Matthew Macauley – Homer's deceased father.Auggie Gottlieb – Newspaper boy and leader of a neighborhood gang of young boys.

Miss Hicks – Homer's history teacher, who moralizes during Homer's detention.Grogan – Owner and old-time telegraph operator of Ithaca's telegraph station Ulysses Macauley – Homer's four-year-old brother.Mary Arena – Neighbor, girlfriend of Homer's brother Marcus, friend of sister Bess.Bess Macauley – Homer's elder sister, who plays the piano.Katie Macauley – Homer's mother, who plays the harp.Homer Macauley – Protagonist, 14-year-old telegraph messenger living in fictional town of Ithaca, California.The novel's optimistic tone came, at least in part, from starting as a screen-treatment for MGM's Louis B.

His roots and an almost instinctive sense of right and wrong keep him honest and hopeful. He is encouraged by his home environment and his loving family, including a very young brother and a mother who plays the harp. Yet Homer keeps up his normal life, going to school, to church, and to the movies. To make money, he takes an evening job as a telegraph boy, meaning sometimes he has to deliver the news to a family that a son has died in the War. His oldest brother, Marcus, is off fighting the war, and Homer feels he needs to be the man of the family. Homer Macauley is a 14-year-old boy growing up fatherless in the San Joaquin Valley of California during World War II. Saroyan won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film, The Human Comedy. It was the March 1943 Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and became a best-seller a week after its release. He walked off the lot, went home, and swiftly created a novelization, which was published just before the film came out. Saroyan was planning to produce and direct the film, but he was dropped from the project either because the script was too long or because a short film he directed as a test was not considered acceptable - or both. It originated as a 240-page film script written for MGM. The Human Comedy is a 1943 novel by William Saroyan.

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