The Sololist

What message and/or theme is The Soloist conveying? Through out the book i constantly think of this question and try to figure out what Steve Lopez is trying to tell us, meaning the readers of his book? One theme i began to think of was "Don't judge a book by its cover." This came to me as a theme as Nathaniel's character is revealed to us as readers. At first I'm sure we thought Nathaniel was just a bum who just so happened to own a violin and played a random selection of notes, but as i read on i came to realize Nathaniel is a great person who posses a great talent. I had already pictured Nathaniel as some run down beat up smelly bum but after progressing through the book my picture of him changed. This theme illustrates clearly the potential that lies within each and every one of us. This beautiful theme remind us not to move to judgment quickly, but rather to seek potential even in those many others have given up on just as Lopez did with Nathaniel. By using this as one of the themes i've gotten from the book i am trying to get people to be more open and look into things before they make an assumption about a thing or a person. Another message/theme i got from The Soloist is the idea that all people are capable of doing something great! A great example is one of our main characters in the story Nathaniel Ayers. Nathaniel has a horrible disorder and this prevents him from acting and performing as other humans would, but when it comes to music it is the total opposite Nathaniel is a wonderful and amazing musician who is capable of performing wonderful works of music from a variety of composers. It helps me to appreciate those with disorders because i now know that deep down inside they are all capable of something great. I know a person who i went to Church with and he suffers from a similar disorder but he is a wonderful singer. He has perfect pitch and can sing his can off. From reading The Soloist it helps me to appreciate the wonders of music!! My overall opinion for those reading this book is don't condemn a person in a bad way until you have got to know them just as i was able to do with Nathaniel!

I would like you guys to comment on my approach at this particular assignment was it unique or different? Why or why not?

The Catcher In The Rye

A very interesting and truly amazing story! What made this an interesting book was the fact that the book is written as if Holden is speaking out loud, sort of like a recording of him telling the story to another person. It's amazing how the book flows quite smoothly even though the ideas and topics stated by Holden are not in order or coherence. The book also is written using language of the time in which the book was published. One thing that tells me that this is a good book is the face that i was on the verge of crying when i got finished reading.

The Catcher in the Rye is a book that was published in the early 1950's approximately 1951 and its almost like a personal journal written by Holden Caulfield who is currently going through a lot in his life and is in the midst of seeking medical attention and help from a psychiatric hospital mind you he's only sixteen years of age.. The book follows his life for only a few days and it starts off with him being kicked out of school at the end of the term and it ends sometime around the end of December somewhere close to Christmas. As the book opens its a few days after Holden is told he has felled four out of five classes and he will no longer be able to attend the school he is at and we come to find out this is one of many schools he has been kicked out of due to bad grades. He then goes to talk to a old teacher of his at his apartment and after a short while he grows annoyed and leaves. After leaving his old teachers place he heads back to his dorm and later on gets into a fight with his roommate over a girl he used to date, but his roommate currently dates. The fight leads to Holden getting his nosed busted and leaving Pency.

When he leaves Pency he goes to Manhattan where he checks into a hotel and phones a girl who he hasn't met before and tries to get her to meet with him tonight so that they could possibly have sex, but that doesn't work out. He sits in his room and from where his room is he can see other people's rooms and he sees quite a few interesting scenes. Later he goes down to the hotel's restaurant and makes conversation with two girls who end up joking about his age leaving him to pay for their tabs. Later in the story, which happens to be thee best part well my favorite part, he goes to a park to look for his little sister, but runs into one of her friends who tells him that she may be at a museum, he goes to the museum but doesn't go in, instead he goes to a hotel and meets up with a girl named Sally. After going on a date with Sally he pisses her off causing her to leave, because of this he meets up with an old colleague and goes out to a bar and drinks till he can barely walk. Later that night he sneaks in his apartment building and decides to wake his sister and in doing so he's forced to tell her he's been kicked out of school. Drunk as ever he calls an old teacher of his who allows him to come to his house. Holden sleeps there for a matter of hours and wakes to find his old teacher rubbing his forehead, but this creeps Holden out so he gets up and leaves and heads to his Grand Central Station where he stays and sleeps for a few hours. When he leaves Grand Central Station he goes to his sister's school and leaves her a note stating that he will be leaving school and they should meet up soon at a museum. When he meets his sister at the museum she is carrying a suitcase full of close and she pleads with Holden to take her, but he refuses and tells her he is not gonna go either. He takes her to a park and puts her on a carousel and as it begins to pour he is filled with such happiness watching his sister on the carousel that he almost starts to cry. This is where he ends the book and we are told that he has entered a psychiatric hospital and he is seeking help, he also tells us that he will be attending school soon and he warns us that the same things that happened to him could happen to us!

Through out the story it seems as if he had an internal problem that haunted him every single second of his life. It almost seemed as if he was battling with a mental problem and he was in a no win situation, which made me feel bad for him thought out the entire story. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and it left me about to cry. I almost hate the ending (how could u almost hate something right) of the story because of how it ends i just wanted to keep reading and know that he was gonna be ok.

Please grade me on my focus and ideas as a writer!