Synopsis Of The Book 'The Soloist' By Steve Lopez
The Soloist by Steve Lopez is the true story of Mr. Steve Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and his journey to move a stranger-turned-friend off the streets and into a place where he can get the help he needs and be able to flourish as the talented musician he is. The star of the book, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, is a 54 year old homeless musician with a mental illness. Nathaniel (or Mr. Ayers later in the book) uses music as something to ground him, to calm him down and bring him back to reality. This book brings into light various topics that most people prefer not to think about (homelessness, mental illnesses, etc.) and shows how music can aide anyone in tough times. It is common knowledge that music helps the soul. Music can make …show more content…
It shows no mercy and often arrives like an unexpected storm, dropping an endless downpour on young dreams” (225-226). As previously mentioned, Mr. Ayers has a mental illness. It is believed that he has schizophrenia. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, symptoms of schizophrenia include (but are not limited to) hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and trouble focusing or paying attention. Most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer chronically or episodically throughout their lives. Even between bouts of active illness, lost opportunities for careers and relationships, stigma, residual symptoms, and medication side effects often affect those with the illness. Mr. Ayers has exhibited these symptoms and more throughout the book. He once told Mr. Lopez “I can’t survive…if I can’t hear the orchestra the way I like to hear it” (128). This is an example of the disordered thinking that can be attributed to people with schizophrenia. Often, Mr. Ayers would ramble on in a string of sentences that sometimes were seemingly unrelated but rather imaginative like “Putting resin on your bow is like feeding your parakeet. A bow needs resin in the same way a police car needs prisoners” (33). This can be taken as a rather imaginative combination of his life on the streets and his love of music which most people without mental illness would never come up
What Is The Thesis Of The Soloist By Steve Lopez
1553 Words | 7 PagesNathaniel immediately goes about assembling the cello, stationing the bridge just so and carefully drawing the strings up over it’s virgin bones. ”(Lopez 34). Ever since he was a young boy, Nathaniel took music seriously, practicing day in and day out. Growing into adulthood, his talents grew even bigger,
The Soloist Book Analysis
582 Words | 3 PagesIn the words of Steve Lopez, “You're only as good or bad as your latest attempt to make some connection with the world.” The novel, The Soloist, by Steve Lopez is an insight to Lopez’s time helping and connecting with Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless schizophrenic. When Lopez meets Nathaniel he is awed by his musical talent and soon discovers he once attended Julliard, a prestigious school of performing arts. Lopez’s story was transformed into a film produced in 2008. Lopez’s character in the book and film share similarities and differences in his personal life, attitude towards Nathaniel, and struggles that contribute to the overall theme of the novel.
Nathaniel Ayers Summary
122 Words | 1 PagesNathaniel Ayers is an important person in understanding human behavior and his story is one that attributes to how the power of the stereotypes we share about certain broadly attributed roles shape and limit our responses to people in those roles. His story also helps us understand devaluation and the power of valued social roles (Lemay, 2009). Once a homeless schizophrenic aspiring musician, Mr. Ayers finds himself homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. Discovered by Steve Lopez a journalist from Los Angeles, Mr. Lopez applies good principle to someone suffering from devaluation by affording Mr. Ayers opportunities to overcome homelessness and utilizing his talents as an escape from his mental illness and the devaluation stigma associated
Eric Klinenberg Going Solo Summary
1406 Words | 6 PagesFilled with a smorgasbord of rich, detailed interviews of solo dwellers and other stakeholders to single living, Eric Klinenberg’s Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise And Surprising Appeal Of Living Alone (2012) provides an intimate account into the phenomenal rise of solo living that has both paralyzed and empowered American society; a phenomenon that is on an international rise, with its reach extending to other nations across the globe. Klinenberg’s (2002) previous research on the 1995 Chicago heat wave, in which he discovered that most of the 750-odd victims had died in isolation, served as a macabre catalyst that galvanized his initial foray into the rise of living alone. Going Solo thus begins by explaining the social changes that are leading to the rising propensity for solo living, and subsequently takes the reader through a series of life chapters; candidly chronicling the struggles, joys, and quirks of individuals living alone (a population that Klinenberg dubs “singletons” [p.4]). More importantly, he warns of the implications to merely brushing aside this epidemic of singletons as a social problem; a problematic view that echoes the woeful cries of
Schizophrenia In Steve Lopez's The Soloist
346 Words | 2 PagesSchizophrenia: one of many types of mental illnesses that is able to stretch and mold one’s inner mind and emotions to monstrous proportions. Imagine the person that holds your affection the most, a spouse, a family member, a close friend, anyone, now imagine that person writhing with anger to an extreme extent within the confines of their own mind. Behavior such as that of schizophrenia is what columnist Steve Lopez tries to describe in his novel, The Soloist. And the character of the mentally ill Nathaniel Ayers, for instance, is not only the main reflection for Lopez’s interaction with a schizophrenic mind, but is only a part of what the novel has to deliver to the reader. In a brief summary, the entire novel consists of Steve Lopez: columnist
Music In A Long Way Gone
844 Words | 4 PagesMusic can bring the brightest of joys that keeps us moving through our dull and boring lives. An example of this joy is Ishmael Beah’s life as a boy soldier in his book A Long Way Gone. As he tells you his story, he tells of his dance group with his friends, the times he heard music in the middle of war, and how music saved him from the madness that brewed within him. Music has the unique ability to create peace in a person’s life despite the difficulties surrounding them, and to bring a constant reminder of who they are as a person.
Analysis Of Nathaniel Ayers Symptoms Of Schizophrenia
592 Words | 3 PagesWhen Nathaniel Ayers was first introduced in The Soloist (2009), one of his symptoms of Schizophrenia was evident: loose association. Loose association is “rapidly shifting from one subject to another, believing that the incoherent statements makes sense” (Comer, 2014, p. 366). Ayers’s subjects in his first conversation with Steve Lopez jumped from treating a violin like a child, to “armies” in Ohio and Los Angeles, to the cello, to Beethoven running Los Angeles, and so on. Another one of Ayers’s symptoms is hallucinations. Ayers also experienced hallucinations.
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1087 Words | 5 Pages“He was playing just to keep himself company” (Garner, 2003, p. 213). Garner acknowledges her own longing, to be able to play music after her
Summary Of My Music My War By Lisa Gilman
677 Words | 3 Pages“My Music My War” is a book displaying the findings of a study done by ethnomusicologist, Lisa Gilman. Throughout the book, it gives insight to daily lives of soldiers during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only does it allow readers to explore the lives of soldiers, it also allows readers to examine how music affected the people in the midst of war. “My Music My War” exemplifies how musical listening can relate to a wide variety of topics, such as gender, politics, and trauma.
Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism Essay
1501 Words | 7 PagesFinal Draft We all have stories and memories tied to songs that have become a part of who are. Remember the violins playing in the background while watching a sad movie or the song that helped you through difficult times or the song you and your friends sang while attending a concert? Whether it’s on the television, the radio, in a movie, in the car, or at a sporting event, music is everywhere. Feeling the rhythm of music brings us so much joy and excitement but playing musical instrument is even more fulfilling because it has many benefits.
Similarities Between Hamlet And One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
989 Words | 4 Pages“People with mental health problems are almost never dangerous. In fact, they are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators. At the same time, mental illness has been the common denominator in one act of mass violence after another,” Roy Blunt, a United States senator, had said. Some individuals who are mentally ill are able to achieve their goals because they have the qualities associated with being a leader, such as having confidence typical of narcissism or willing to use others like psychopaths. The characters of Hamlet and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest focused on these states of mental health and how it tied into the people and setting.
Argumentative Essay On Music Therapy
1462 Words | 6 PagesMusic therapy is the clinical use of music to achieve individual goals and improve relationships; it is also considered a form of Psychotherapy (Music Therapy Medicine). Melodies and harmonies are used to transport patients to new and safe places. The sweet rhythms brings peace and relaxation to stressed minds. Self-worth is found between each melodic note, and anxiety and depression are long forgotten. Memories that were once lost are now found, and medication is improved by this one simple healing tool.
Music Of The Swamp Analysis
895 Words | 4 PagesSome have coined music as a universal language. Perhaps, the complexity of the notes, the consistency of the beat, the array of instruments, or the flow of lyricism offers this universal appeal. Nevertheless, the unique composition of each song enables it to sustain its own magnetic aura, much like the musical implication in Lewis Nordans Music of the Swamp. Though, many argue Nordans piece suggests merely a collection of short stories rather than a novel, Nordan uses his singsong methodology- a novel-in-stories- to incorporate an anthology of his transformative memory- an autobiography of the way it was.
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626 Words | 3 PagesTopic: Music Therapy General Purpose: To inform. Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the benefits of music therapy, so that they can have a better quality of life and wellbeing.
How Has Music Changed My Life Essay
799 Words | 4 PagesMusic has always been a part of my life. In definition, it is “vocal or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.” Ever since I was a young child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the entrancing melodies, and the lyrics that vary between heartwarming and heart-wrenching have always had an unexplainable effect on my life. Music seems to have the ability to change certain aspects of my world.
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