University Seminar 101

Once Lopez got started on his column he could not really ignore Nathaniel, a lot of his time was spent observing the life of Nathaniel. Like any other person would be, Lopez was very interested in Nathaniel’s past and how he knew how to play music so well. As Nathaniel and Lopez spent more time together, Lopez felt he needed to help Nathaniel. The first thing he wanted to do was take Nathaniel to a homeless shelter so he could have a safe place to live. One should be considerate and try to help the homeless if they have the opportunity. Since Lopez was writing a column on Nathaniel, he wanted to give him as much as he could to see him succeed. Lopez was kind of like a father would be for a son. He was there for Nathaniel and tried to push him in the right direction in order for him to prosper. Any newspaper writer could have approached Nathaniel, written their column, gotten all the benefits from writing it, and then forgotten about everything they went through to get the story. Lopez took time out of his own life with his wife and kid and got involved with a mentally ill homeless man. Not only did he want to give Nathaniel shelter, but he wanted to see Nathaniel enjoy life to the fullest. Nathaniel thought he was fine on the streets, but no one is suited for living on the streets. Throughout the novel, Lopez visited many doctors, a shelter, and even an apartment to help out Nathaniel.

When Nathaniel surrounds himself with music, it creates a barrier between himself and his illness. There is no doubt that Nathaniel has an exceptional gift which makes music therapy very convenient and effective. Whether it makes it more effective because of his previous musical skills cannot be known, but it is a fact that anyone can play an instrument if they put in an honest effort. An instrument has a mind of its own and if the player hits the right note and the right time, it will play itself. The relationship between a musician and his instrument is tight-knit and can be very emotional. It is a successful method of treatment not only because it is an emotional release, but also because it is a meaningful relationship that can be compared to the one that Lopez has come to share with Nathaniel.

The twentieth century has seen the most revolutionary change since the time humans appeared on the earth. It has been a booming time for technology, adding stress in ways we would not believe. Have you ever wondered what life would be like if we had no responsibilities or obligations? Only the homeless can experience this. Nathaniel developed schizophrenia, a disease of paranoia and changing moods, due to the stress loads of being the best student at a very competitive school and needed an environment less taxing. He lived with his mother for several years and routinely threw fits of rage at the slightest mention of mental disorder, and sometimes for no reason at all. When she was no longer capable of taking care of her sick son, he turned to the streets for a way out of society who understood him very little for his condition.
Though living on the streets is a very difficult and aging lifestyle, it can also be a much simpler life. Many feel comfort knowing they have little to no responsibilities or pressing tasks. They have limitless free healthcare taking advantage of the Hippocratic Oath at the expense of America’s taxpayers. If they choose to seek out shelter they will probably find a vacant cot for a night and soup. There are many provisions and sympathetic people allowing the homeless to have little worry about survival. Nathaniel has a mental illness that brings him to a place he ironically feels comfortable in. Every days goal mission is to play a two stringed violin where the sound is drowned out by traffic and only a small amount of people pass by. The seclusion gives Nathaniel security because no one is around to judge his musical talents. Julliard was likely an environment of scrutiny, trying to point out every flaw in the students playing, no matter how big or small. Before meeting Mr. Lopez, Ayers was content living a life on the streets with music as his outlet and medication.

Mental illness affects all races and genders equally, although its more common to show itself earlier in males. A dangerous illness that comes with no real warning and often victims do not know they have it until its to late. It reeks havoc on not only its victims, but their families as well.

Schizophrenia, possibly the scariest of mental illness’s, affects over 2 million Americans at any given time, yet still not much about it is known to the general public(6). No single cause has been found for schizophrenia, although there are three significant factors. First, are the biological factors including, but not limited to, genetic make-up. Next, is personal expenses and upbringing, meaning those with dramatic events or negative interactions with people are more likely to fall victim to the illness. Finally, are the current social factors that the particular person may be facing. Many other reasons are coming into light and being further researched as possible causes. Included among these reasons lies drug abuse, which is a valid explanation as to why so many drug addicted homeless also suffer from schizophrenia. Approximately one third of all people diagnosed with schizophrenia will have one or two episodes and then make a complete recovery. Another third, seeing more frequent episodes but with medication can still live a fairly good quality of life. Sadly, the last third will develop a chronic level of the illness and will be in and out of care(5). Unfortunately, Nathaniel belongs to the last third. Being unable to trust treatments, Nathaniel could no longer be a part of functioning society, he lost everything he had, and the streets became his home. This is a familiar story for all to many homeless people.

Once you invest a certain amount of time in a person you are bound to become attached. Although Lopez approached Ayers because he was in need of a story, he still became attached. Making promises and fulfilling wishes for someone can be troublesome. Lopez soon found himself emotionally attached to Ayers, which posed a problem because it was only supposed to be one or two articles and then he was going to move on. Lopez realized that this was not going to be easy and it was not going to be a fast recovery process but someone had to help Ayers.
It appears as though Lopez knew he had to continue helping Ayers. Ayers had also become emotionally attached to Lopez. He relied on him, which was great that he finally trusted someone, but was also a challenge for Lopez. Having someone depending on you is hard enough, having someone with a mental illness relying on you must be even harder. People with mental illnesses generally do not understand when they need help or what help looks like. There is only so much that people, such as Ayers understands. It was apparent in the book that at times when Lopez was trying to help, it only made Ayers paranoid and scared.

One of the more pressing problems in trying to help the homeless involved the question of whether they even want help or not? It was hard to coerce Nathaniel to stay in an apartment instead of spending his nights on the streets. He claimed that he knew where to go if there was any trouble; his surroundings were familiar to him. Eventually, Steve was able to use Nathaniel’s love of music to “bribe” him into the room. But what if “bribery” doesn’t work for everybody? Perhaps some homeless people like the way they live. Maybe they feel more at home sleeping on newspapers, than they would in a warm bed reading those same newspapers. Some people have been out on their own for so long they can’t see any other way of life. Those with mental illnesses may think that they are perfectly fine right where they are; they might think that nothing is wrong at all. Maybe they tried the whole “not living on the streets thing,” once and it just didn’t work out for them. If it didn’t work that time, why would it work this time?

There are just so many factors to solving the homeless problem in our nation, that it is just as difficult to determine how to help this people as it is to actually help them. Each case is just so different from the other that it makes it difficult to try to solve the problem as a whole; there are just too many variables to consider.

Whether the problems deal with housing, disease, and what the individuals actually want, they all require a lot of thought to determine the best course of action. I do believe that the homelessness problem that is plaguing our nation today can be helped. However, it will take a lot of time and effort to get to that stage. The stage where everyone is happy and safe, is a probability, but it will be a long time before we come anywhere near reaching it.

In Steve Lopez’s book The Soloist, Nathaniel Ayers is a homeless schizophrenic with a hidden and unexpected passion for classical music. Until a Los Angeles Times writer by the name of Steve Lopez came along and forcefully took Nathaniel under his wing. As Steve strives to reveal Nathanial’s hidden talent, Nathaniel brushes Steve off as if he has heard it all before. Although in the beginning Steve Lopez is only interested in Nathaniel for the great story he would make, Steve begins to respect Nathaniel as a friend, and not just as an experiment for his work. Although Steve Lopez obsesses over his dream story of the homeless musician, he is wrong to invade into Nathaniel’s personal life only to reveal Nathaniel’s story to the public eye.
In The Soloist, when Steve Lopez first sees Nathaniel on the busy street corner, Steve is so driven to pry the story out of him that he does not even greet Nathaniel like a real person. Steve does not care what his name is or where he grew up; he only refers to Nathaniel as a project, “project violin man.” Steve states, “I would drop everything if I could, and spend a few hours pulling the story out of him, but that will have to wait for another day.”(Preface) Steve Lopez barged in without assessing Nathaniel’s situation; Steve only assumed that Nathaniel was a normal guy who happened to be homeless. Although Steve is somewhat respectful of Nathaniel’s homeless condition, Steve tends to believe that Nathaniel is going about his life all wrong and needs to be helped.

It is debatable whether Lopez is justified in lying to Nathaniel or not. In a way, Nathaniel is not capable of comprehending what is going to benefit him; in this aspect Lopez’s white lies are completely necessary. On the contrary, Nathaniel is still a human being and also an adult who deserves to know what he is being eased into. Other than lying, Lopez uses bribery to seduce Nathaniel into healthy decisions. Whether the bribery pertains to instruments, a dinner date with family or private lessons from a prestigious artist, all are offers Nathaniel cannot resist. The seduction Lopez has mastered is portrayed when he says, “I now have the perfect bait. Peter Snyder, the Los Angeles Philharmonic cellist who shook Nathaniel’s hand at Disney Hall, has e-mailed me with an offer.” The offer that Lopez is proposing is private lessons that are only held in Nathaniel’s apartment at LAMP. These desperate actions that Lopez needs to take are justified. With Nathaniel’s Paranoid Schizophrenic condition, subtle action, such as briberies, need to be practiced. If Nathaniel was either pushed or constantly asked if he would live indoors, nothing would be accomplished. Therefore, the lies that are expressed are for a genuine outcome and helped Nathaniel positively, overall.
All in all, Lopez is a big hearted individual who has deep rooted care for Nathaniel. Though Nathaniel took over a year to help at all, Lopez still stuck with him and did not let go of his hope. Also, Lopez has the right to lie to benefit Nathaniel. If Lopez did not bribe or lie to Nathaniel, there would still be a homeless, schizophrenic musician on the streets of Los Angeles.

@charles.jewett
Charles, I have a few questions for you pertaining to The Soloist . Do you think Nathaniel succumbed to schizophrenia from the second cause? Or which cause do you think fits him most? Also, what are you trying to accomplish with your statement (ie: why is it important to the novel?)? Finally, I would ask, what assumptions do you make about ‘being part of a functioning society’? What is a functional society and why doesn’t Nathaniel fit into it?

The difficulties that Nathaniel faced living on the streets were a very big challenge to overcome. But it was apparent that Nathaniel liked living on the streets because he didn’t have to face authorities or follow any rules. While he lived amongst the drug addicts who shot up right on the corner of the streets and people dying from day to day he was one of the few that had overcome the addiction and wanted one thing in his mind, music. I would come to expect this all false but it really is happening on the streets. People are just too blind to realize the reality at hand. The homeless that are sick can’t get the help and the money they need and when they do get the money it is mostly spent on drugs and alcohol. Now I’m not saying that every homeless on the street does this, Nathaniel is a great example of not falling into the addiction but he does have a mental illness that enables him to not achieve the goals he could achieve. When the chronically homeless are sick they are treated sometimes but they consistently come back racking up a bill that they most deffinitely can not afford. When we help and step in to there lives it is usually more than we can handle. For instance, Mr. Lopez follows Nathaniel throughout his life for a year, and while he writes his notes about Nathaniel, he comes to find out that it takes more than just talking to him about his problems.

In The Soloist, journalist Steve Lopez discovers a schizophrenic homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers, who is playing Beethoven’s Eighth on a two stringed violin. Although Lopez knows little about music, he is determined to challenge Nathaniel’s comfort zone to get him off the streets, and in the process, creates an uplifting friendship for both of them.
Nathaniel’s paranoid schizophrenia had been developing for years, possibly stemming from racial barriers in the professional music world, which began at Julliard, a very selective music school. Nathaniel’s first roommate, half-African American Eugene Moye, believed he was crazy because of the drawings he inscribed all over the walls of the apartment, creating “a mad tapestry of race-tinged, twenty-year-old angst.” The real comfort in Nathaniel’s life was his music, basically a self-applied music therapy to subdue his inner turmoil.
Lopez had not listened to classical music until he met Nathaniel, and without ever playing a musical instrument in a group, he could not have understood the full physical and mental value of the compositions. That is one of the sources of problems in their relationship. When Lopez coaxes Nathaniel out of his tunnel into a homeless shelter called the Lamp program by storing his instruments there, it’s almost as if Lopez is parenting him, which met with a fair amount of resistance. The music serves as Nathaniel’s stress relief by putting him into a mental concentration that blocks out all distractions and absorbs him into the mood of the music rather than the stressors of life. By holding his instruments at Lamp, Lopez is holding back his musical drugs and forcing him to get treatment.
The story reflects moods that developed in the music Nathaniel played, helping him cope with his mental illness. The power of music, and the deep commitment that Lopez instilled into his relationship with Nathaniel, allowed both of them to take away a powerful life-changing experience.

Murray, unlike Nathaniel, was a homeless man who had a severe drinking problem, one that put Murray into a hospital. The difference between Murray and any other drunken homeless man was when Murray got help from the people around him, he really changed. He cleaned up well and his drunken habits seemed to disappear. He was put up in his own apartment, and he was given a job. Although Murray wasn’t completely alone, he still had checkups, to assess his progress. When the people who had helped him saw the change, they assumed that the babysitting of an adult, Murray, was not necessary anymore, Murray had no one to report to anymore. So Murray was left alone. He had saved the money he had earned, which totaled to be about six thousand dollars and he spent those six thousand dollars in about a week. Next thing you know Murray is back out on the streets drinking and racking in the hospital bills. “People loved Murray.” (Gladwell 1) I believe that Murray sincerely wanted to change, but I think his alcohol disease was preventing him of ending his relationship with that poison, his poison of choice. The thing about homelessness is not every homeless person gets to choose their own poison, some just get stuck with whatever they get bestowed with. For example I’m certain that Nathaniel did not choose to have schizophrenia. It’s interesting to know that sixty-six percent of the homeless populations have problems with alcohol, drug abuse, or mental illness. (Almanac of Policy Issues)

@joseph.guerri
Joseph, you provide a very effective reasoning for why Nathaniel acts the way he does. Although, I don’t think there is a direct link between the cause Nathaniel’s schizophrenia and the stress from Julliard. According to GEODON.com:
Schizophrenia can run in families. A child with one parent with schizophrenia is about 10 times more likely to get the disease than a child whose parents do not have the disease. However, people without a family history of schizophrenia can also have the disease (GEODON).
Perhaps all of the stress from the pressures of the prestigious and demanding musical school accelerated the process. However, the most common victims begin showing symptoms of the illness around the age Nathaniel was during his stint at Julliard (GEODON), so maybe Nathaniel was destined to fall into the mental abyss that is schizophrenia.
Nathaniel tried to keep up his attendance at Julliard when he was suffering from the illness. Perhaps that just added to the problem; not only was he under the pressure to perform well for his professors, but he had a mental affliction to grapple with as well. Eventually, the man Nathaniel used to be, gave into all of the external and internal turmoil, causing him to leave behind almost everything he loved. Everything except what he loved most: music.
For Nathaniel, music is everything. To many, music is a form of therapy. The American Music Therapy Association has been preaching the therapeutic powers of music for years. There is plenty of research to back the methods of musical therapy up. The AMTA says:
Music therapy allows persons with mental health needs to: explore personal feelings, make positive changes in mood and emotional states, have a sense of control over life through successful experiences, practice problem solving, and resolve conflicts leading to stronger family and peer relationships (The American Music Therapy Association).
Nathaniel, at one point mentions that he would one day like to be a music therapist. Indeed, Nathaniel loves music, and it appears that he would like to use his talents to help others. If Steve had never come along to help Nathaniel, he would have never moved past playing in the tunnel. Thanks to Steve, Nathaniel has been able to progress in his musical career, and has seen that he may be able to help others, besides himself.
It is true that Nathaniel may never reach the point where he will be able to help others with his music. His mind is too unstable. He could have an outburst at any second, whether it be provoked or not. However, the fact that he wants to use his music – the only thing that keeps him at peace; the thing he loves more than anything in the world – to help others, proves that there is a caring, beautiful person (like before the schizophrenia) still inside the shell of a man that is Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.