Blind Side

Blind Side In the film, Michael Oher was born and raised in the projects of Memphis, Tennessee. He grew up poor, not knowing his father, and was the son of a crack-addicted mother. Oher did not have a consistent place to live and sometimes stayed with his neighbors. He went along with his neighborhood friend and his father who wanted to enroll his son into a school with a good reputation, Wingate Christian School. While attending the school, he befriends S.J. Tuohy and later welcomed into the home of the upper-class family, the Tuohy’s, who cared and provided for him as if he were one of their own (Johnson & Hancock, 2009). Oher grew up in the projects of Memphis, Tennessee, unexposed to the world and other environments around him. He grew up in an environment where school was not important. For example, one of his neighbors dropped out of community college to sell drugs. Oher did not have a strong relationship with his mother and did not know his father very well. His mother was addicted to drugs and did not provide the necessities for Oher as a growing child. Before Oher moved in with the Tuohy’s, he had one shirt and one pair of shorts that he washed at night at the local wash house so he could have clean clothes to wear the next day. Oher used what resources he could in order to fit in at his new school, such as cleaning his own clothes. On evening after a volleyball game, Oher walked throughout the bleachers and collected leftover popcorn from the stands. He did this because he was hungry, had no money to purchase food, and the popcorn was going to be swept up and thrown away. Oher was comfortable in his old environment because it was all he knew and was used to; he did not experience anything otherwise until moving in with the Tuohy’s (Johnson & Hancock, 2009). Oher’s social and mental processes determine his actions. Once Oher began staying with the Tuohy’s, he exhibited gratitude and proper manners. The morning after Oher’s first