"The Age-Defying Benifits Of Having (And Younger) Friends"

The book I am currently reading is Notes From the Midnight Driver  Jordan Sonnenblick.  While reading the book I wondered how Solomon will help Alex grow as a person.  So I chose to read an article that can help me understand why the judge chose an elder to be his punishment. "The Age-Defying Benefits Of  Havimg Older", talks about how having older friends and impact on you in a good way.

The author of the book tells a story of Alex Peter and Solomon Lewis. Throughout the book Mr. Lewis teaches Alex lessons that he would find out in the future. The author puts things in perspective when the characters start to bond. In the book Alex decided to have Mr.Lewis help him with playing his guitar. After the practice I can see that Solomon trusts Alex enough with his valued guitar. "You gave me your Telecaster, and you can't go up on stage next month an delay the washboard. So now you have a real jazz guitar." (224) this shows that Solomon wants to pass his experience onto Alex.


In the Article "The Age-Defying Benefits Of Having Older (And Younger) Friends" the author Meredith Melnick, talks about how having a more experienced friend. This connects to the story because Alex the main character is learning things from the old man, Solomon, which will help his life decisions that Solomon was incapable of making. According to the article, "'Friendships with older and younger people help broaden you perspective, which in turn allows you to have compassion and empathy in your day-to-day life." I think that this is happening in the book between Alex and Solomon. In the book Alex asked "Why don't you play guitar anymore? Why did you stop?". I think this is the point where Solomon starts to open up about his past. While explaining what happened to his wife he told Alex not to do the same thing he's done, he describes how he sees his deceased wife Ethel symbolizing that he sees himself in Alex hinting that he should take care of Laurie.

All in all, both the book and article shows how having someone who can teach you more than your parents will before your old enough to make your own decisions. The article list several ways having wiser and experienced friends will help you in life. The book slowly shows how the friendship between the two characters progress into a family like manner. The difference between the book and article is the article doesn't have more ways befriending elders will help in life.

Melnick, Meredith. "The Age-Defying Benefits Of Having Older (And
              Younger) Friends." The Huffington Post.
               TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 May 2014. Web. 12 May 2017.
               <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/06/heres-why-you-
               should-seek_n_5120705.html>.