Unexpected Friendship

An Unexpected Friendship According to Lopez’s novel, The Soloist, “A friend is someone who inspires, who challenges, who sends you in search of a truer sense of yourself.” (Lopez 197). The two main characters, Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr., develop a true friendship throughout the novel. Lopez was a middle class journalist for the LA Times, and while searching for a new story he stumbled upon a fifty year homeless man playing a broken down violin and that intrigued him. Little did he know this homeless man would become his best friend. Both Ayers and Lopez exuded qualities such as being supportive and inspiring, trustworthy, and just having a general interest and caring for each other, which defines them as true friends. When Lopez discovered the raw talent that Nathaniel had playing his instruments, Lopez did everything in his power to help him further his music career whether it was getting him new instruments, or taking him to the Disney Concert Hall to hear famous orchastras including many of Ayers’ favorite musicians. The author quoted “Yo Yo Ma is coming to town. ... Do you want to go? ... Why not try to arrange for Mr. Ayers and Mr. Ma to meet after the concert” (271). Lopez was supporting Nathaniel in his need to play music. Playing was his escape from his life; it made Ayers feel more peaceful and helped him get away from his mental illness. Lopez was also inspired by his new friend. By being around Nathaniel for so long he realized that just being a real friend is all that Ayers needs and the true power of music. Both Nathaniel and Lopez showed qualitites of being trustworthy as well, which is an important quality to obtain. Lopez wrote an article about Nathaniel’s situation and in response recieved many free instruments from people who were inspired by the article. First, Lopez was uneasy about giving the instruments to a homeless man considering how dangerous Skid Row and Los Angeles was after dark, however, Lopez developed a trust

Cited: Lopez, Steve. The Soloist. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. 184-271. Print.