What Is The Thesis Of The Soloist By Steve Lopez

What would you do if you spotted a homeless man in the streets playing music in an extraordinary fashion? The Soloist by Steve Lopez focuses on the lives of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers and Steve Lopez. Steve Lopez is an LA Times reporter who saw Nathaniel playing in the streets. Nathaniel on the other hand, is a homeless and schizophrenic musician. To Steve, this was just another story , but little did he know that this story would turn into a friendship. Nathaniel was very startled and doubtful of Lopez at first, but he slowly developed a trust with him. Nathaniel connects through music and lives through it. As Lopez writes his first article on Nathaniel, it catches the attention of many readers. Many feel sympathy for Nathaniel and want to

His actions and ways of communicating make it like so. Nathaniel can go for endless hours playing his instruments, not letting anything distract him. Also, because Nathaniel has schizophrenia he sees or perceives things in a different way the most people would. For Nathaniel, the streets are more of a safe haven to him rather than LAMP. He feels that moving into LAMP will cause more danger to him because he thinks that the LAMP staff will take away his instruments. This is because Nathaniel knows the streets. He knows what happens around there and is more comfortable there rather than staying in a place where he doesn’t know. Nathaniel also prefers the street because he sees it as an open space where he can play his music freely, while LAMP is a crowded place where people will flock to him and throw cigarette butts at his feet. Nathaniel is seen in the book as a hard-headed because he doesn’t want to listen to anything that Steve Lopez will try to help him with. This is because whenever he remembers his past memories, all he sees is medication and trying to get better. This leaves Nathaniel a burden later on because he will continue to look at it the same way. In addition, he can also be seen talking non-stop to Lopez about how Los Angeles is the Beethoven City and can in about a second, change the topic to ask if Steve Lopez is flying the plane in the sky. Nonetheless, what really strikes you about Nathaniel is his love for music and instruments. He shows this to us by, “ Oh my gosh, he gasps, carefully lifting and cradling the instrument as it if were a newborn child. It’s beautiful, I agree. Nathaniel 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,