The Soloist (23-31)

These last few chapters of The Soloist were both happy and unexpected. Nathanial Ayers finally gets his own apartment and a studio so he can make his music. Even though it didn’t seem to bother him all too much, his life before was awful. He lived on the dirty dangerous streets of Skid Row. It wasn’t for his friend Steve Lopez he would most likely still be wondering the streets aimlessly. Now he has a whole group of people who honestly care for him and care about how he lives.

The story gets very interesting and unexpected when Ayers verbally attacks Lopez and threatens to kill him. He doesn’t do it purposely but because of his disorder. Lopez really gets hurt and tries not to take it personally but it really suprised Steve. Lopez realizes at that moment that Ayers will never be able to get better from his disorder. It is a very upsetting part of the book.

The end of the book is happy. In the beggining of TheSoloist Nathanial Ayers was once a homeless man with nothing but the clothes on his back and his beloved instrutment, no home, no family, and no friends. At the End he completly transformed and now has a safe home, studio, and many people who care about him. It makes me really happy because his life before, even though it didnt seem to bother him, was very depressing. This book really opened my eyes and made me believe that one person can truly save someone's life. If it werient for Steve Lopez, Nathanial Ayers most likely would still have the same depressing life.

The Soloist (13-22)

I learned a lot in these chapters. The mayor of Los Angeles, who happens to read Lopez’s columns takes a stroll through Skid Row and is appalled. He sees the crime and the disaster that is occurring. He dedicated 50 million dollars to skid Row and other places like it to build homes and buildings. When I read this I really got happy because it was such a generous gift. It really can save many people’s lives. I also think about how if Lopez never wrote a column about Nathanial and his “home” in Skid Row that would have never happened.
Part two of The Soloist taught me a lot about Nathanial Ayer’s past. He had a hard childhood. He had a father, mother, and sisters. When his father left his family and started a new family with another woman, it really affected Ayers negatively. When his mother also got remarried, it created even more problems. I think that Nathanial’s family’s history really affected him. It really explains the distrust he has in people. The fact that Ayers is so carefree also might be a side affect to his devastating childhood.
Later in part two, Nathanial finally sleeps in his room at lamp. Of course he put up a fight and he was a little stubborn but he agrees to sleep there three nights a week. When Ayers turned 50 he woke up in his room in lamp instead of on the street, which really made me happy.
I think Part two really gave the story a new twist. Now that Nathanial is finally in lamp I can’t help but wonder what will happen next. I also love that I learned a whole lot about Nathanial’s past which in my opinion fills in a lot of holes in the story.

The Soloist (7-12)

        In the second part of my reading, I learned some personal things about Nathaniel Ayers. Steve Lopez did some more research about Ayers, for his column and discovered that he lives in a place called Skid Row. Apparently it is one of the most dangerous places to live, between the drug abuse and the heroin addicts. Its scary to think that in the mist of the muggers, fights, drugs, and slums, there is an innocent man with nothing but his instrument. I think that once Lopez saw this he immediately felt the need to help him. 

        I feel some pity for Nathaniel, but not as much as i thought i would. sure, he is homeless and lonely, but here is something about him that separates him from the common homeless person. Yes, he does live on the streets, but that doesn't seem to bother him. He doesn't have a cup at hand begging for spare change. He seems really independent and i really admire that confidence in him. I just wonder why Ayers doesn't want to get off the streets, what is holding him back?

The Soloist (1-6)

So far, The Soloist is a really intresting book. The fact that it is a true story really makes me want to find out what really happens to Nathaneil Ayers. The love that he has for music is very inspiring. He lives on the streest and has nothing but the clothes on his back, but as long as he has his precious violin, then he is alright. it makes me really think about how people take things for graunted. Alot of people in the world have everything they ever wanted, a huge house, money, designer clothes, and cars, but they still want more. Then there are people like Nathaneil Ayers who has no care in the world as long as he has his instrutment.
The first six chapters are about a writer names Steve Lopez who is looking for a story. He stumbles upon a homeless man on the streets of downtown LA. As soon he hears Ayers play he is mezmeriezed. He decides that his story is going to be about this amazing musician who lives on the streets. Whenever he tries to interview Ayers he dosent cooroporate. When he tries to find information about Nathaneil by talking to his loved ones, including his beloved sister he finds out that Ayers attended Julliard. He suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Lopez then realizes that he wants to help Nathaneil in any way he can.
I really enjoy the first few chapters of this book because of the determination that both characters have. Ayers, because of his music, that is all he seems to care for. Lopez, because he wants to write a great column, and because he wants to truly help out Ayers. I am excitedto continue reading and find out what will happen to Nathaneil Ayers.

The Catcher in the Rye

I thought The Catcher in the Rye was a really good book. Although the novel didn’t have the normal set up like most books, (beginning, middle, end, climax, resolution, ect.) it still had a good storyline. The whole book was about Holden Caulfield and his life, and all of the problems he faces in New York. I noticed that the book was written as if it were pages from a journal and that made it more interesting in my opinion. Throughout the whole book you can tell everything that Caulfield is thinking in detail. It makes the reader apart of the book. I read through some of the blogs that my peers wrote and I noticed that in someone’s blog post they mentioned that Holden Caulfield says “you” throughout the whole book. It makes it like he is speaking to someone he knows or a friend. I never thought about it like that. I really liked the wording in the book too. Holden is speaking to the reader as if we are sitting across from him. J.D. Salinger is a very unique author and this book was very interesting to read. I think it takes a great author to make a book good without a climax or normal book set up.
The book was a little bit depressing. It makes me feel sorry for Holden because he is always alone and seems like he is seeking something that he will never find. In the book Holden’s brother Allie died and I think that had a huge impact on his life and made him the way he is in the book. He is always alone walking the streets of New York looking for someone to talk to. It makes me wonder if his whole family is like this because of Allie’s death. Holden sometimes gets himself in trouble in an attempt to have some company. For example, the prostitute that he hires, when she arrives he just wants to have a conversation because he is desperate to talk to someone. He underpays her and then gets beat up, and he is back to being depressed.

After reading The Death of a Salesman I realized that Willy, the main character is similar to Gatsby, the main character in The Great Gatsby. They both had a dream and died before it could come true. Gatsby’s dream was to be with the love of his life, Daisy. Most of the time he thinks about the all of the “what if’s” and always wonders what would have been. When the time finally came to be with her, Gatsby dies. The novel is very depressing but it taught me that sometimes, some dreams are not meant to come true. There is a difference between a dream and reality. The dream for Gatsby was to be with Daisy, the love of his life. The reality was that she was married to another man.
Willy Loman’s dream was for his sons to be come successful businessmen. He himself was a successful salesman, but he tried to live a better life, one that he wanted through his sons, Biff and Happy. Willy put a lot of pressure on his sons. The years of pressure eventually lead to resentment. Biff, Willy’s eldest son was under more pressure than Happy simply because he was the oldest. It wasn’t his dream but Biff just wanted to make his father proud. In the novel, Biff witnesses his father having an affair with another woman and ever since then things have not been the same between. Willy begins to hallucinate scenes from his past and his wife and sons begin to worry. In the end of the play, Willy kills himself.
The two stories are very similar. Both characters strive for their dreams and don’t think about their consequences. Unfortunately, in both cases the consequence was their own death. Gatsby did not care if Daisy had a life with another man all he wanted was her and he would stop and nothing until he got what he wanted. Willy wanted more than anything for his sons to follow in his footsteps. He pushed Biff so hard it got to the point where Biff grew resentment toward his father. I’m not saying that Gatsby and Willy are wrong for wanting something so badly, but they let their dreams get the best of them. They were unconsciously hurting people along their path toward their dreams.
After reading both of these stories I learned that you have to look at a situation from every angle. Figure out how you are going to go about solving a problem and consider people’s feelings. What goes around will always come around.

third quarter reflection

I really enjoy using blogger. Everyone has their own personal page and everything is much more organized than the google group. Blogger has definately been valuable to me. All of my writings i wrote over the past several weeks are well organized. I can compare my writings from my first week to my last. I can edit and change things whenever i want. Its like i have my own little website for my personal writings. I like how both 11th grade classes are mixed up into one. i also like how even though everyone has a blogger, you dont see everyones like you did on google group. You only see someones blog post if u go on their page. You still have your privacy. Blogger is really a great experience. I like the fact that its over the computer. I find it eaiser to type than to write. I just have one suggestion...if we can see our grades after each post. I like to know what i got on my paper so i can improve my writing. I also like that you comment on each paper because i use your advice and it helps me.