43 pages • 1 hour read
The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship
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Key Figures
Nathaniel Ayers
Nathaniel Ayers is the titular character in The Soloist. A talented musician, Ayers trains at Julliard in the ‘70s before he drops out as a result of his schizophrenia. He goes through years of treatment but abandons it to come to California in search of a father who had abandoned the family many years before. Eventually, Ayers becomes homeless and keeps all of his possessions in a shopping cart. He sleeps in the Second Street tunnel where he plays his violins for passers-by. Lopez notices him one day, and the two form a relationship.
Mental illness is a central theme of the novel, and a central aspect of Ayers’s life. As a paranoid schizophrenic, Ayers often loses touch with reality and with himself. Ayers notes: “My mind would not strive to do what’s best for Nathaniel” (79).Ayers acknowledges that his own mind is against him—it causes him to indulge in destructive behavior. Gradually, Ayers battles his mental illness throughout the novel and moves towards recovery. A significant step is leaving the Second Street tunnel and moving into an apartment. Although Ayers does not take medication or go to therapy during the book, he nonetheless moves closer to a more mentally stable way of life.
In addition to mental illness, music is at the center of Ayers’s life. Lopez notes of him:“His life’s purpose, it seems, is to arrange the notes that lie scattered in his head” (7). Through his battles with mental illness and homelessness, music is the one thing that Ayers is able to hold onto. He plays his violin every day despite the surrounding challenging circumstances. When Ayers receives new instruments and is given the opportunity to take lessons with an L.A.Philharmonic cellist, he is able to connect more deeply with himself. In this way, as he embraces and hones his musical talents, he moves further down the road to recovery.
As an African-American man, Ayers has battled inequality his whole life. He was one of the only black students at Julliard, an environment filled with many privileged white people: “Nathaniel was a young black man trying to prove himself in a mostly white world” (75). In fact, when one of Ayers’s instructors is concerned about his mental state, the university brushes the concern aside, saying that the issue must be racial. Later in life, Ayers lives on Skid Row, an area populated mostly by people of color. Through Ayers’s experience, Lopez suggests that racism is a rampant issue in Los Angeles and the United States as a whole. It is ingrained into American culture and allows for someone as talented as Ayers to sink into homelessness and untreated mental illness.
Steve Lopez
Steve Lopez is the author of The Soloist as well as one of its two main characters. He is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and has been in the journalism business for 30 years. In his early 50s, Lopez has a wife named Alison and a daughter named Caroline. When he meets Nathaniel Ayers, he is at a crossroads in his career. He worries that print journalism is becoming less and less popular, and he also struggles to find significance in this pursuit.
Through his relationship with Ayers, Lopez discovers a renewed sense of purpose. Although he has becoming involved in other stories before, he has never become so deeply enmeshed in another person’s life: “In all of my years of columnizing, never have I run into unintended consequences of this magnitude. I’m on the street corner arguing with a paranoid schizophrenic” (31). Here, he has become so involved in Ayers’s life that he is regularly engaging in behavior he never would have imagined for himself. It takes a lot to engage with Ayers and convince him to try to improve his life: “I never expected to be intellectually challenged at every turn, but the guy’s living by his wits and I don’t have an answer for him” (66). For Lopez, helping Ayers is a significant intellectual and emotional undertaking.
Moreover, Lopez’s character and resolve are tested through the many ups and downs of Ayers’s journey. When Ayers makes progress, Lopez is filled with joy and satisfaction. However, when Ayers moves in the opposite direction, the result is devastating for Lopez: “The growth on the upside of his potential is so great, I deceive myself into thinking that his darker moments will diminish as he continues to get better” (226). Lopez often questions his own motivations and involvement, asking why he has decided to make sacrifices for Ayers: “I cut short my time with Caroline this morning once again […] so I could be with a man who is so sick he’s sabotaging an adventure he eagerly anticipated for days” (107). Lopez is aware that his own behavior is questionable since he is sacrificing time with his family, yet he continues in his difficult undertaking.
Throughout their time together, Ayers helps Lopez learn about the field of mental health and renews his awareness of the rampant inequality in Los Angeles. Lopez is confronted with the abject poverty of Skid Row on almost a daily basis, and this is a wakeup call for him. Prior to knowing Ayers, Lopez did not have much of an understanding of mental health issues. He learns about the different ways of treating patients and discovers that there is not one right way. It is a nuanced topic, and recovery is never linear. Towards the end of the book, Lopez discovers that “there are no magic pills, and that thousands before him have gotten better only to chuck the meds and sink back again into the grips of incurable disease” (284). From this, Lopez “learned to accept him as he is” (284). Instead of trying to fix Ayers, Lopez decides that all he can do is support his friend and not expect his recovery to be linear.
Jennifer Ayers-Moore
Jennifer is Nathaniel Ayers’s younger sister who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. When the book begins, the two have not spoken in several years. Still, when Lopez reaches out to her, Jennifer seems to be the one family member who is still invested in Ayers’s recovery. Jennifer flies out to Los Angeles to see her brother, and the two reunite. She takes charge of her brother’s financial affairs.
Dr. Mark Ragins
Dr. Ragins is a mental health professional working at the Village. He embraces a recovery model based on relationships rather than immediately prescribing medication or committing someone: “It starts with making a person comfortable to come in on his own, rather than in a straitjacket” (55). Lopez consults with Ragins over the course of the book and asks him advice about Ayers.
Pete Snyder
Snyder is a cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He agrees to gives Ayers lessons on the cello at the latter’s apartment in the Ballington. Snyder is impressed by Ayers’s “natural” ability (163).
Stuart Robinson
Robinson is a mental health professional at Lamp who works closely with Ayers once the latter starts attending regularly. He is also instrumental in helping with Ayers’s transition to living at the Ballington.
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