Finally, The Soloist ends for us as readers. However, Nathaniel's life is just beginning. Although he is not cured of his disease and is by no means better, since he verbally attacked and threatened Lopez, the ending of the story is a positive one. Nathaniel lives in a safer environment where he can practice and produce as much music as he wishes, he has made some memorable experiences and he has reconnected with some individuals from his past.
Unlike most of my classmates, I was expecting a sad ending. I was certain that something terrible would happen to Steve or Nathaniel that would change the others life completely. Fortunately, I can say that The Soloists' ending surprised me and none of the characters were placed in negative situations.
I believe that a lot of people will get the same message as I did from this story. the message, although very popular and sometimes cliched is this, 'don't judge a book by its cover'. Nathaniel was a dirty, worn-out, homeless man living out of a shopping carts on the streets. Many passer-byers saw him as nothing more, until Steve Lopez came by. He looked past the dusty, ripped cover on Nathaniel's book and took the time to sit down and read the pages of his story. He ultimately gave Nathaniel another chance at life and i believe that if everyone capable did this for another, then we would able living in a happier and friendlier world.
-do my ideas and thoughts connect to one another
-are my thoughts clearly expressed
-am i staying in the same tense
-grammar/spelling
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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)
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)
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Soloist 2
"If he's got a cart," he tells me, sharing a bit of street wisdom that seems obvious now that he mentions it, "that's not the type that's ready to come in." (p. 64)
This quote brings many questions to mind.
-Why does the shopping cart mean that Nathaniel wouldn't want to stay at Lamp?
-Is the shopping cart a representation of ownership, responsibility, pride?
-If Nathaniel gets rid of the cart, will that be the first step he takes towards improvement?
-Why is this piece of advice, coming from a homeless man, seem so critical and obvious to Lopez after he had heard it?
-Is it a well known fact that a homeless person with a cart isn't ready to leave his street sleeping night?
Maybe this quote is the answer to my questions above......
"you can't organize your mind, but you can organize your shopping cart. So you do." (p. 67)
This quote means that Nathaniel's condition prevents him from having an organized mind, so he organizes what he can in life, and all that is available to him is this shopping cart full of his personal items. I don't see why he couldn't organize his items in a room at Lamp though. Nathaniel states that he wouldn't want to live in a shelter because he would feel too confined but Lamp isn't like a normal shelter that most of the homeless population try to avoid. Lamp will provide Nathaniel will his own housing and medications for his schizophrenia. He would be able to go in and out as if it were his own apartment.
In these chapters we are introduced to a very important character. Joseph Russo considered himself a very good friend of Nathaniel. He tells us how he made it to Julliard and all about his relationship with Nathaniel. He goes on to describe more specific memories he had with his Julliard classmate. Russo says that he first had the thought that something was seriously wrong with Nathaniel when, at a party, Nathaniel got furious when Russo referred to him as kid. Nathaniel thought Russo was being a racists, despite the fact that Russo invited him over for the holiday and was one of his closest pals. I think this is a really important part of the novel because it gives the reader some insight into the life of Nathaniel before he became homeless and schizophrenic.
"It's not clear to either of us what my role is in his life."
I think that it is very clear to me as a reader what Lopez's role in Nathaniel's life is. He is a friend, a guardian, and a reporter. He is a friend because he truly cares for this man and he is doing everything that he can in order to help Nathaniel out. He is a guardian because he looks out for him and makes sure that he is safe. He pushes the issue of housing and medication to assure Nathaniel will be out of harms way. However, Lopez is still a reporter and we as readers have to remember that he might not have this much interest in a homeless person, unless he could get a story out of it. The facts that this man could play beautiful music and had a peculiar personality are what drew Lopez in. He wouldn't have spent this much time on a person that he couldn't advance a story out of. Now that he has gotten involved, he feels it would be wrong to neglect him now.
This quote brings many questions to mind.
-Why does the shopping cart mean that Nathaniel wouldn't want to stay at Lamp?
-Is the shopping cart a representation of ownership, responsibility, pride?
-If Nathaniel gets rid of the cart, will that be the first step he takes towards improvement?
-Why is this piece of advice, coming from a homeless man, seem so critical and obvious to Lopez after he had heard it?
-Is it a well known fact that a homeless person with a cart isn't ready to leave his street sleeping night?
Maybe this quote is the answer to my questions above......
"you can't organize your mind, but you can organize your shopping cart. So you do." (p. 67)
This quote means that Nathaniel's condition prevents him from having an organized mind, so he organizes what he can in life, and all that is available to him is this shopping cart full of his personal items. I don't see why he couldn't organize his items in a room at Lamp though. Nathaniel states that he wouldn't want to live in a shelter because he would feel too confined but Lamp isn't like a normal shelter that most of the homeless population try to avoid. Lamp will provide Nathaniel will his own housing and medications for his schizophrenia. He would be able to go in and out as if it were his own apartment.
In these chapters we are introduced to a very important character. Joseph Russo considered himself a very good friend of Nathaniel. He tells us how he made it to Julliard and all about his relationship with Nathaniel. He goes on to describe more specific memories he had with his Julliard classmate. Russo says that he first had the thought that something was seriously wrong with Nathaniel when, at a party, Nathaniel got furious when Russo referred to him as kid. Nathaniel thought Russo was being a racists, despite the fact that Russo invited him over for the holiday and was one of his closest pals. I think this is a really important part of the novel because it gives the reader some insight into the life of Nathaniel before he became homeless and schizophrenic.
"It's not clear to either of us what my role is in his life."
I think that it is very clear to me as a reader what Lopez's role in Nathaniel's life is. He is a friend, a guardian, and a reporter. He is a friend because he truly cares for this man and he is doing everything that he can in order to help Nathaniel out. He is a guardian because he looks out for him and makes sure that he is safe. He pushes the issue of housing and medication to assure Nathaniel will be out of harms way. However, Lopez is still a reporter and we as readers have to remember that he might not have this much interest in a homeless person, unless he could get a story out of it. The facts that this man could play beautiful music and had a peculiar personality are what drew Lopez in. He wouldn't have spent this much time on a person that he couldn't advance a story out of. Now that he has gotten involved, he feels it would be wrong to neglect him now.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Soloist
Steve Lopez tells the story of The Soloist in first person. It is from his point of view as a reporter that is desperately trying to find a story in a homeless musician he encounters on the street one day. The mans name in Nathaniel Ayers, he is African American and he is an alumni of Julliard, which is a very prestigious music school in New York. It perplexes Lopez how an African American kid could triumph through a time when racismn was very strong and most of his age mates were barely managing to survive. He tries to find out as much as he can about this homeless musician, connects with his sister, finds some of his old friends and aquaintances, and writes his article. In response to the article, many people send him insstruments to give to Nathaniel. Nervous that he will get mugged having all these expensive insturments attached to his shopping cart, Lopez convinces Nathaniel to go to a nearby angecy that works with mentally ill homeless people called Lamp Community. He is reluctant at first, but the desire to play the new instruments drives him there.
So far, this story is different than any other story that we've read in class and I think that it fits the genres of 'non-fictional/inspirational' or a 'real life human drama'. It deals with the issues of mental illness, racial over comings, homelessness, and unlikely frienships. There is a quote at the beginning of the book from the Bloomberg News. It reads "The Soloist is a beautiflluy written story that will forever change the way you feel when you walk down the street and pass a person who sleeps on the sidewalk." This quote fits perfectly because The Soloist tells the other side of the homeless persons story. Most aren't born to live on streets with shopping carts, roaming the streets day in and day out and it is very intriguing to hear about the lives of these people ebfore they became what we see on the streets.
Steve Lopez writes to the ignorant individuals for the misunderstood people of this world. He writes to inform people about issues that they aren't educated in and he wishes to tell of people all about those who are abandoned and have no one else to tell their stories for them. I think that when he tells these stories he goes into a lot of detail and he really descriebs things one-hundred percent. This is most likely becuase he is a reporter and he is used to telling stories like this.
I can't wait to read further and learn about the outcome in store for Nathaniel and Lopez.!!
So far, this story is different than any other story that we've read in class and I think that it fits the genres of 'non-fictional/inspirational' or a 'real life human drama'. It deals with the issues of mental illness, racial over comings, homelessness, and unlikely frienships. There is a quote at the beginning of the book from the Bloomberg News. It reads "The Soloist is a beautiflluy written story that will forever change the way you feel when you walk down the street and pass a person who sleeps on the sidewalk." This quote fits perfectly because The Soloist tells the other side of the homeless persons story. Most aren't born to live on streets with shopping carts, roaming the streets day in and day out and it is very intriguing to hear about the lives of these people ebfore they became what we see on the streets.
Steve Lopez writes to the ignorant individuals for the misunderstood people of this world. He writes to inform people about issues that they aren't educated in and he wishes to tell of people all about those who are abandoned and have no one else to tell their stories for them. I think that when he tells these stories he goes into a lot of detail and he really descriebs things one-hundred percent. This is most likely becuase he is a reporter and he is used to telling stories like this.
I can't wait to read further and learn about the outcome in store for Nathaniel and Lopez.!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
