The Death of a Salesman is a tragedy caused by a man's misinterpretation of the American Dream.
Willy, the main character, mistakenly believes that one can achieve the American Dream by being "well liked," and having character. He demonstrates this stubborn belief by not allowing his eldest son, Biff, to go to Summer school. He believes that Biff's football talent and likable personality is enough for him to achieve success. Pushing this belief on his son leads to Biff's failure in the business world as an adult.
Proof that Willy has the wrong idea about the American Dream lies in Bernard, Biff's high school classmate and next door neighbor. Bernard is smart in school and tries to convince Willy that being "well liked," isn't enough for Biff to pass math class. Willy was annoyed by Bernard, but he envies Bernard's success and resents his own stubbornness in the future.
The repeated mentioning that Biff failed math, shows readers that mistakes made during one's youth can effect the rest of his or her life. I think the author wishes to show his readers the importance of having good decision making skills because every action or choice a person makes will effect that person later.
The author also wants to clarify what the American Dream is about. The American dream is not: Being likable and having character will get you far. It's that a person with a disadvantaged background can achieve success through hard work, like Bernard.
In conclusion, The Death of a Salesman teaches important lessons about making wise decisions and how to achieve the American dream.

effectiveness of examples; logical organization

Holden, the main character of Catcher In the Rye, is very wary throughout the book about entering adulthood. He describes adults as phony. Phoniness, according to Holden, is characterized as perceiving oneself as something one is not. While adulthood is filled with phoniness, childhood is all about honesty and purity. However, Holden's behavior and state of denial falls into the phony category.
Holden is phony, because he's a habitual liar. For instance, on the train to Penn Station Holden met on of his ex classmate's from Pencey's mother. He lied to her about how nice and well-respected her son was. This was an unnecessary lie and a meaningless conversation.
His fear of companionship also makes Holden phony. He longs for companionship, yet he pushes people away. Throughout the book, he thinks about Jane Gallagher, a girl he used to date. However, he's unwilling to make any real effort to get in contact with her. He does end up contacting another girl he dated in the past, Sally Hayes. When they meet he cuts their meeting short by upsetting Sally with his rude remarks.
The phoniest thing about Holden is how he analyzes the flaws in everyone around him, but fails to recognize the phoniness in his own character. If he'd quit being concerned about others and focus on himself, he'd be able to improve his character.
Overall, Holden uses the phoniness of adults as an excuse to remain isolated. And spends so much time analyzing others that he fails to recognize his own phoniness.

Validness of ideas; effectiveness of examples; grammar

Nathaniel is not a mentally ill musician, ...but a musician with mental illness.
This was a striking quotation for me in The Soloist. Its comes at the point in which Stella March, the mother of a man with schizophrenia, tells Lopez that he must recognize the person before the illness.
All people can take this quotation and think about it before they pass judgement on someone else or apply a label to a person. For instance, I have a slight case of cerebral palsy on the right side of my body. However I'd never refer to myself or classify myself as a disabled girl, maybe a girl with a disability, but I'd even be wary to call myself that.
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Another important subject that The Soloist explores is the stress and hardships caregivers go through. In the specific case of Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers, Lopez begins to feel that caring for Nathaniel is forcing him to alienate his family and neglect his work at the LA Times. Looking after Nathaniel becomes so difficult, that Lopez begins to believe that forcibly treating Ayers is the only way for Ayers to get better. When he presented this idea to the founders of Lamp, it becomes clear that forced treatment wouldn't help Ayers. It would help Lopez be rid of the story that's become a burden.
A situation that more people can relate to can be caring for an aging parent. Many older people have trouble getting around, because of pain in their bones and joints. Some elderly people even suffer from memory lose caused by diseases like Alzheimer's. Caring for the elderly can be a difficult task that can alter all other aspects of the caregivers life. For example, many people are forced to choose between continuing their careers and caring for their parents.
The Soloist can help people appreciate caregivers much more.

grammar; effectiveness of examples

What genre is the soloist?
The soloist is a combination of a biography for Nathaniel Ayers and an autobiography for Steve Lopez. This book is biographical in that it includes information about Nathanial's education, family life, musical training, and recounts his experiences with Steve Lopez. This is also an autobiographical piece, because it describes Steve Lopez's life as well. He describes his own career, education, family life, and experiences with Nathaniel Ayers. Essentially, Ayers has effected Lopez's life as much as Lopez has effected Ayers's life. For instance, in chapter 7 Lopez spends the night in the "Toy District", on the street, with Ayers. His descriptions of the rats, roaches, drug dealers, drug addicts, and prostitutes show how Nathaniel lives every single night. However, it still describes one night of Lopez's life.

What issues does the soloist explore?
By analyzing the particulars of his own experience with Nathaniel Ayers, Lopez explores many universal themes. For instance, Ayers is a homeless person. However, he's not he only homeless person in the world. His experiences with the risks of disease, violence, and many other tribulations are similar to people in every city in the world. By describing the inadequate care provided for the homeless in Los Angeles, Lopez is suggesting that all homeless people are inadequately cared for and efforts must be taken to help their situation.
Ayers is also Schizophrenic. People that suffer from Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses have problems and experiences that are similar to Ayers. Medication and treatments have failed to help Ayers with his problems and inovation in treatment for the Schizophrenic is necessarry (not only in Ayers case, but in many cases).
To address problems that apply to himself, Lopez mentions the risk of his career. It's scary for him and many others that a lot of newspaper readers are dying out and turning to the internet for news. Without readers, writers for the LA Times won't be able to make a living and will lose their jobs. This also applies to other newspapers, like the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. Both the Inquirer and the Daily News are facing bankruptcy and extreme measures are being taken to keep profits flowing.
Lopez addresses many important issues in the soloist.

Effectiveness of examples; grammar; validity of ideas