The Soloist: Final Post

This was a pretty good book compared to most of the readings we have read throughout the year. This was a true story which made it more interesting for me to read because i really wanted to find out the story of Nathaniel Ayers. I feel like this book has really come a long way. From lopez first hearing Ayers playing his violin with two strings to now Where Lopez and Ayers have a great friendship with eachother that is still going on today.

In my opinion i would say Lopez is pretty crazy for putting a lot of his time and effort into working with Ayers. I thought that maybe after a newspaper article or two that both Lopez and Ayers would go on living their lives but Lopez sticking with Ayers turned out to be good for both of them in the long run. They ended up having a great friendship due to all Lopez' hard work. There was one fight that occured in these final chapters between Lopez and Ayers. Lopez could have just walked away right there and maybe never even see Ayers again. But instead he understood his illness and did not think much of it just to keep their friendship.

Lopez and Ayers still hold their great freindship up to this day. What started off as a few newspaper articles changed the life of Ayers, who basically was living a bad life as a homeless person. My final thought of The Soloist was that it actually was a pretty good book, which i didnt expect it to be. It was a good book to finish off the year with.

Focus: Second paragraph

The Soloist 13-22

Throught these chapters i began to notice a little bit of the writing style of Lopez through his Skid Row series. His story of Nathaniel Ayers is beginning to become noticed by many people. I do not think that lopez writing about what he noticed on skid row is a very professional thing to do. I do not think it is right for the lives of the unfortunate to be put out there just because of one person, Ayers, who spends most of his time there. The mayor begins to take interest also and finds out a few things about Skid Row that he supposeably did not know about.

Also throughout these chapters, many people keep trying to move Ayers into an appartment that they had reserved for him but Ayers still will not leave his somewhat of a home on Skid Row. I feel that there are two problems wrong with what they are trying to do. Just because Ayers has been in the L.A. times because of Lopez does not mean that he should get special treatment from people and have a reserved appartment for him when there are many other people out there just like him and do not receive anything. Also, trying to persuade someone like Ayers with the illness of schizophrenia to move somewhere he is not comfortable with can make him feel very uncomfortable with the people that are trying to persuade him to take the open spot in the appartment. Lopez should have a put a stop to his Nathaniel Ayers story when many people began taking interest because problems are sure to come.

Focus: I'm curious to see if my recent posts have had good details and if i get a good viewpoint across to the readers that have been reading my recent blogs.

The Soloist 7-12

Chapters 7-12 of the soloist are somewhat different than the first six chapters. Lopez is more into getting to know Nathaniel Ayers and his way of life. Lopez tells Ayers that he is willing to spend the night with him over at Skid Row. As Lopez starts walking down Skid Row he begins to feel a sense of discomfort as he watches all the prostitutes,alcoholics, and drug dealers proceed in doing there nightly routine. He thinks to himself how a man like Ayers could survive here every night with any harm being done to him. Also, Lopez tells how Skid Row is such a horrible area in Los Angeles but right down the street is the Disney Hall.

Throughout the night Lopez asks Ayers questions pertaining to his little sleep spot here on Skid Row and many times tries to persuade him to live in a more safe place. Ayers had an answer for everything Lopez was saying and he eventually just dropped it and let Ayers go on with whatever he was doing at the time. I agree with Lopez when he tries to persuade Nathaniel to move away from his home and Skid Row. Ayers is nothing like the people that reside there because he is not involved in the drug and alcohol abuse that is taking place over there. I feel he deserves a better spot where he can sleep comfortably and play his violin in a quiet space where he can really get some work done. Unfortunately, Ayers illness stops him from doing anything out of the ordinary to him. But on the other hand Ayers feels like he is at home each day and is happy living under the conditions he is in.

Chapters 7-12 took another step in the book and gave me more detail about Ayers and the way Lopez feels about him and the situations he is in. Im still looking forward to find out more and how the true story of Nathaniel Ayers unfolds.

Focus: sentence structure and how i can make some sentences better.

The Soloist

The first six chapters of "The Soloist" have been pretty good so far. I feel Steve Lopez has a different type of writing style then the past couple authors of books we have read. As Mr. Fiorini said, he writes his books kind of like a newspaper article, but i think this is a good change compared to the past couple books we have read. Its a little bit of an easy read and its easier to pick out the main points and main events throughout the chapters.

This book is based on true events which makes it a little bit more interseting for me. The story is based on Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man who has a fetish of playing the violin on busy street corners. Not to mention that he is playing a violin with only two strings on it. Steve Lopez, a journalist for a local newspaper comes across Ayers one day while searching for his next story to write about in an upcoming newspaper. Lopez notices how well Ayers is playing a violin with only two strings and thinks to himself that this maybe could be in his next newspaper article.

Lopez becomes quite fond of Ayers and his violin with two strings that he often goes searching for him to ask him questions. He keeps trying to find out Ayers' story of why he is on the streets and how did he get that good at playing the violin. After visiting Ayers a few times he discovers that he attended Julliard and is diagnosed with the illness schizophrenia. He also discovers that Ayers illness led him to drop out of Julliard. These first six chapters have been interesting and i am looking forward to find out the rest of the true story about Nathaniel Ayers.

Focus: Paragraph structure

The Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher in The Rye is a book based around the main character Holden Caulfield. The book begins with Caulfield standing on a hill watching his schools football game. This was his fourth school he has attended after failing out of his first three schools he had attended. Caulfield is now about to be expelled from his current school, Pencey High, after failing four out of the five classes he takes there.

In my opinion i feel Holden Caulfield has many social issues that he does not tend to properly and ends up affecting his life in a negative way. Holden seems to have many problems with his roomate Stradlater and his neighbor to his dorm, Ackley. The smallest things about these two people seem to annoy him very much. I feel most of his problem with Stradlater is because of his recent date with Jane, who Caulfield had recently dated before. Throughout the book there were many examples that made me believe that Caulfield basically liked being alone and very kept to himself. He seems like he would be fine if he was the only person that existed. Because of his recent incident with Stradlater hes decides to leave Pencey three days early and head to Manhattan.

I also feel that Caulfield has a problem making up his mind on what he wants to do. He will put his mind to something then when he is about to do it he backs out and tries to find another option. For example, when he agrees to pay five dollars to the elevator operator at the Edmont hotel for the prostitute. He payed the money then when the prostitue came up to his room he made up an excuse that he has had a spinal operation to get out of the situation hes in. Caulfield also seems to have many problems with the women he encounters in New York. He goes on a date with Sally Hayes amd tries to persuade her to run away with him to Massachusetts or Vermont. When she refuses he becomes annoyed with her and she then leaves shortly after and refuses to listen to his appologies.

I do not exactly know what happens to Caulfield at the end of the book but i know he does not fulfill his dreams of becoming a "catcher in the rye." He says he plans to attend a new school in the fall and is very optimistic about his future.


Focus: I had kind of a hard time writing this blog entry because there was no specific prompt to respond to but i did the best i could. If there is anything to focus on out of my blog I think it would be the way I portray the character of Holden Caulfield and his social problems.

Death of a Salesman

After reading both The Great Gatsby and The death of a Salesman I noticed a few similarities bewteen each stories main character. Willy Loman and Gatsby both lived their life by trying to live a dream. Gatsby wanted his dream life to be with Daisy because that was his true love. Gatsby eventually gets a chance to be with Daisy but he ends up dieing. Willy Loman has somewhat of a similar story as Gatsby. His dream life was becoming a very successful business man. I think this was his dream life because thats all he really knew how to do because thats basically what he did his job his whole life. The only problem he has was that his sons Biff and Happy did not have successful careers and that hurt Willy a lot. Biff and Happy tried to make their father as happy as possible but Willy had one plan in his mind set out for his sons which did not work out and ended up being the result of Willy's death. Both Gatsby and Willy tried their best to accomplish what they wanted done in their life, and they tried at any cost possible but they both ended up losing their lives in the long run. Maybe if they were of the damage they were causing people around them that really cared about the both of them then the reuslts of each story might have been different. I believe that Gatsby and Willy really were good men but just let the dream of living a perfect life get in the way of them really living a long and perfect life with people around them that loved and cared for them.


Focus: one thing I would like readers of this blog to focus on is the similarites between both characters of Willy and Gatsby. Also, how they ultimately ended up having the same result in their lives because of the way they lived it.

Third Quarter Reflection

So far blogging has gone well for me and I really like it a lot. Blogging has been valuable to me as both a reader and writer. With blogging I get to view the other wrtings of the students a little bit more easily then with the old way we used to do it and its easier to find whoevers page you want faster. Also, as a writer I get to compare my styles of writing with the styles of writing of some of the other students. If blogging continues the way it has been going then I would not mind doing blogs over the next quarter. Blogging has not changed the community between my class and the other class that much but it did give me a chance to view a lot of my classmates writings and some writings from the other class that I probably would have never read before. I think blogging is a good thing and if it is effective then it should be continued throughout the rest of the year.