Notes From The Midnight Driver

Since Notes from the Midnight Driver focuses significantly on characters who are musicians, it is no surprise that the protagonist’s instrument, a guitar, features heavily in the text. Alex’s “beloved Tele” (161) is “the best thing [he] own[s]” (18), and he prizes it above all else. As a musician, Alex spends hours practicing on his guitar, finding renewed purpose in this task when he meets and befriends Sol, after which he spends “tons of time […] practicing [his] jazz tunes” (81). Throughout this time, Alex is playing on his American Fender Telecaster. A key turning moment in the novel occurs when Alex chooses to give up this beloved instrument as a gift to Sol for the second benefit concert. In exchange for this selfless act, Sol gifts Alex a guitar in return, which is so beautiful and special that Alex has difficulty thinking “of it as [HIS] guitar” (227). Through the giving of these guitars as gifts, Sol and Alex cement the strength and depth of their relationship: Both have given up a prized possession to the other.