The Soloist 3

At this point in the novel The Soloist, a thought has crossed my mind. It seems that Steve Lopez has waltzed into Nathaniel's' life and has been making important choices and decisions without even consulting with him first. Lopez decided to write a column and ultimately a novel about this man as if he were a test specimen; inviting the public into his world and he contacted his past acquaintances and family members without asking his permission first. Also he gave Nathaniel instruments that could have potentially set him as a target for muggers and robbers and Lopez connived Nathaniel into living at Lamp by telling him that he couldn't play these instruments unless he was there. Although Lopez had Nathaniel's best interest at mind and in heart when he did all of this, he still never asked or thought about what Nathaniel would be truly comfortable and happy with. What if Nathaniel didn't want so much public awareness of his life? What if he didn't stay in contact with his sister or his friends for perfectly acceptable reasons? How would Lopez feel if Nathaniel did get injured from having expensive instruments in his shopping cart? What if Nathaniel's condition got worse from living at Lamp?

This last question really stuck with me throughout this section of the novel. I recently watched the movie 'Changeling' and although the main character was placed in a mental institution for invalid reasons, most of the patients at the institution were there legitimately. The institution was horrifying. People were force fed medications that made them incapable of moving and thinking straight, they patients were beaten if they behaved difficultly (sometimes even electric shocked) and the doctors and nurses there were more focused on keeping the mentally ill people off the streets, then actually helping them to improve their condition.

So, I decided to do some research on Lamp to see what kind of place it actually was. On the homepage of their website I read something very comforting. Under the heading titled 'How We Do It', I read the following, "The approach we use, and helped to pioneer, is called Housing First or Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). Conventional wisdom has long said that homeless people with disabilities had to “straighten up” before they could obtain housing. But people with severe disabilities cannot access treatment, let alone make dramatic changes in their lives, while struggling to survive on the streets. Lamp treats housing as a prerequisite for coping with the debilitating challenges of mental illness, addiction, physical disability, chronic disease, and the trauma associated with 5, 10, even 20 years of homelessness. Customer choice is central to all of our services. Historically, people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses have been denied a voice in decisions that affect their lives. But Lamp knows that personal choice is paramount to success in treatment and in all aspects of one’s life."

Steve Lopez, a man who has given up a lot of things like family time, personal time, effort and resource, and who has trying his absolute best to help out a complete stranger, was actually doing the worst thing possible for him. Lopez was denying Nathaniel his 'voice in decisions that affect his life'. I hope that in the ending of the novel, Lopez will give up some of his control and let Nathaniel's voice be heard instead of trying to speak for him.

-grammar
-correct punctuation
-staying in the same tense
-common mistakes/typos ex. (writing form instead of from, or adn instead of and)