The Soloist Research Paper

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Keenan 1 Harry Keenan Dr. Millar ENGL 1102-8 12 March 2012 Power of Music Being an artist can be tough. Some people do not take artists seriously, and others are constantly critiquing their material. But, if an artist is good at what they do, be it filmmaking or painting, they are left alone. However, in some cases, such as in Steve Lopez's The Soloist, the artist's well being is constantly in question by other characters. If we analyze Nathaniel Ayer, we can see that true artists are misunderstood by society. Steve Lopez's The Soloist, suggests that it was the publics' concern for Nathaniel that guided his journey. In the beginning of the book, Lopez tries to convince Nathaniel to sleep at Lamp instead of on the streets with the criminal's…show more content…
Lopez had Nathaniel's best interest at heart. He looked past Nathaniel's illness, and saw a man with talent, and courage. At times it looked like Lopez was exploiting Nathaniel for the sake of an interesting article, and his status among other writers. His true intentions though, were to help. Lopez believed that Nathaniel could overcome his illness by getting him off the streets, and placing him in a more musical environment. But, at the end of the day, schizophrenia is an unpredictable, incurable illness, and Nathaniel proved that from time to time. When Nathaniel was asked what was troubling him with the Lamp program/administrators, Nathaniel goes on a rampage that shows an uncontrollable angry side of him. “The issue have is that nobody here knows how to do their goddamn job because they are imbeciles, and they are a DISGRACE, and I will not have any of these motherFUCKERS tell me what I can or cannot do, when they do not have on ounce of aaabilityo do their own motherfucking jobs because they are inept, ignorant, horrible bastards who cannot perform the simples aspect of their sworn duties” (Ayers, 238) Lopez describes the event, “His eyes are red with rage. I've never seen this side of him and I have no idea what might come next” (Lopez 238). Outbursts like this one show the complexity behind mental illness, and make the reader question if all the work Steve Lopez did was really worth it. Nathaniel's journey was really incredible, but I don't think it was a journey that he should have ever gone on. Nathaniel went on

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