essay on the blind side

The True Story of Michael Oher and The Blind Side

The 2009 movie starring Sandra Bullock took some liberties while telling the triumphant tale of the football player.

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Before Oher spent eight years in the NFL, he was the subject of acclaimed author Michael Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game , and its big-screen adaptation, The Blind Side . The movie, written and directed by John Lee Hancock, traces Oher’s journey from homeless teenager to Division I All-American left tackle for Ole Miss. Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in the Best Picture–nominated film.

A smash hit that made over $300 million at the box office, The Blind Side took some liberties with the particulars of Oher’s life story. And now, Oher says he didn’t earn any money from the film, even as the family who took him in when he was a teenager has profited, according to a court petition filed Monday.

Here’s how The Blind Side stacks up to the real story, what Oher has said about the movie over the years, and the legal turmoil brewing more than a decade after its release.

Oher’s birth parents weren’t around much

Oher was born in 1986, right smack in the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic that swept the United States’ inner cities. He was one of 12 children born to a mother who had fallen victim to the cheap and ultra-addictive narcotic, which set him along a troubled path from the start. His father disappeared early on, while his mother, Denise, struggled with addiction for many years .

“When my mother was off drugs and working, she would remember to buy groceries and there would be a mad scramble to grab whatever you could before anyone else got to it,” he wrote in his 2011 memoir, I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond . The problem was that she was rarely off drugs and working, so Oher was a nomad from an early age . Child services removed him and his siblings from their mother’s home when Oher was at the tail end of first grade, and he bounced around between foster families, friends’ couches, and wherever else he could find a warm place to rest his head.

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With little adult supervision or stability, Oher barely made it to school. He repeated both first and second grades, attended nine different schools over the course of 11 years, and missed dozens of school days per year even when he was passed along to the next grade. The most stable home he had was in a housing project called Hurt Village, where he lived from age 11 until he began high school.

A chance trip to a prestigious private school changed his life—eventually

By the time he was 15, Oher was bunking up with a local athletic program director named Tony Henderson, who had an extra room in his house. Oher was already 6-foot-5-inches and 350 pounds, which made him a prime recruit for drug dealers seeking some muscle. He was less of a desirable prospect for prestigious private schools, but when Tony took his son Steven to the local Briarcrest Christian School, Big Mike, as he was called, tagged along for the ride anyway.

“He wasn’t no trouble kid, nothing like that, you know?” Henderson later told ABC News . “He was real quiet, you know, and just stayed to himself.”

He was so quiet, in fact, that Briarcrest’s admissions team couldn’t really find a reason to admit him, let alone offer him a scholarship. Having spent his life just trying to survive, getting into an expensive private school wasn’t really on Oher’s radar. He barely spoke during interviews, his reading comprehension level was closer to elementary school, and tests showed he had an IQ that barely cracked 80.

Perhaps, these facts led to the movie’s general portrayal of Oher, who is played by Quinton Aaron. It’s one of Oher’s biggest complaints, though he has complimented Aaron’s acting. “I felt like it portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it,” Oher wrote in I Beat the Odds .

Still, the Briarcrest football coach was interested in Oher, not just as a prospect for the team but as a redemption story. This was a kid who’d never been given half a chance, he told the school president and principal, making the case for a very large exception to their typical admissions process. The principal, Steve Simpson, felt stirrings of sympathy and issued Oher a challenge: If he could get his grades up in another private school, he could enter the far more prestigious Briarcrest the next semester.

Within a few months, Simpson had a change of heart and admitted Oher to his school. But entering Briarcrest was no panacea and produced no immediate change. The kid was out of place, shy, awkward, and way behind.

This is where the movie and real life began to diverge. In reality, Oher couch-surfed at the homes of his fellow students and foster families for his first few years at school and played three sports—basketball, track and field, and football—before ever meeting the Tuohy clan in 2003. In the movie, Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, is fully homeless and has nothing to do with athletics until the very wealthy and generous Tuohy family took him in.

Life with the Tuohys provided stability and family

Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock in the movie, is the outspoken matriarch of the family and wife of Sean Tuohy, played by Tim McGraw , a former college basketball star and wealthy fast food entrepreneur. The movie posits that their young son S.J.’s mismatched schoolyard friendship with Oher is the catalyst for their involvement in his life, while in reality, it was actually Sean noticing Oher on the sidelines at the gym that prompted their involvement.

Soon after Sean first met Oher, he set up a standing cafeteria account for him so that he’d be able to eat lunch every day. Eventually, on Thanksgiving weekend, the family crossed paths with Oher, who was walking alone in the rain, wearing his only pair of shorts and going nowhere in particular. They took him in for the weekend, an arrangement that soon became permanent.

A tutor was hired. New clothing was purchased. The Tuohys are conservative Christians and taking Oher in raised eyebrows in their community, but it was quickly a natural fit. Leigh Anne told The New York Times point-blank that she was raised by a racist father to be a racist herself, but she’d moved past her upbringing by the time she’d grown up and had children of her own, including a daughter named Collins, who was in high school at the same time as Oher.

After some early awkwardness, Oher became a full-fledged member of the Tuohy family. In the movie, one scene shows Oher accepting Sean and Leigh Anne’s offer to become his legal guardians. Both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times have described the real-life relationship as a legal guardianship in past reporting, though Oher and the Tuohys have publicly called it an adoption. That changed this year when Oher discovered paperwork he signed didn’t make the Tuohys his adoptive parents but rather his conservators, according to an August 2023 lawsuit Oher filed in Tennessee. Sean told The Daily Memphian that he and Leigh Anne were advised they couldn’t adopt someone over the age of 18.

His football dominance opened up new doors

Just as in real life, the fictionalized Oher ultimately becomes a force of nature in high school football, but how that happened and the timeline his development followed was a real bone of contention.

“I could not figure out why the director chose to show me as someone who had to be taught the game of football,” Oher wrote in I Beat the Odds . “Whether it was S.J. moving around ketchup bottles or Leigh Anne explaining to me what blocking is about, I watched those scenes thinking, ‘No, that’s not me at all! I’ve been studying—really studying—the game since I was a kid!’ That was my main hang-up with the film.”

Given the gaps in his formal education and his lack of athletic training, Oher had virtually zero reputation when he began playing football at Briarcrest, but that changed soon enough. Once he polished his game on the football field, it became clear that he was special, and football scouts were starting to notice.

Universities across the South showed up during the spring of 2004, hoping to recruit him. Prominent coaches later appeared in the movie as themselves , underscoring the huge interest in Oher’s potential. He was a First Team Preseason All-American at left tackle, perhaps the most important non-quarterback position on the offensive side of the ball.

Oher was closer with the head coach, Hugh Freeze, than the movie suggests, having spent plenty of time with him and his family both on and off the field. He even once said Freeze’s daughters were “like my sisters,” a sign of just how many families were eager to take him in. (Freeze later resigned as head coach of Ole Miss after a personal scandal, though Oher had his back then, too.)

Oher became a football star in college

Both Tuohys had gone to the University of Mississippi, which complicated Oher’s decision to follow in their footsteps, at least in the eyes of the NCAA. His academic record, spotty at best given his years of struggles and lack of schooling, also made it difficult for him to initially attend the school. But with some correspondence courses and tutoring, he was able to raise his grades enough to earn his diploma and earn admission into the school.

He was an instant success: First Team Freshman All-American his first year, Second and then First Team All-SEC in his sophomore and junior years, and finally a First-Team All-American in his senior year in 2008.

By that point, his backstory wasn’t at all relevant to his playing skills, which clearly stood on their own. Lewis’ book was published in 2006, while the movie hit theaters in 2009, just after Oher was drafted in the first round—23 rd overall—by the Baltimore Ravens.

If anything, the attention from the movie grew to frustrate him during his career. Making the NFL and sticking in the league is hard enough without the added pressure of a mega-hit, Oscar-winning movie about your life to draw international attention to your rookie season.

The attention from The Blind Side often overshadowed his career in the NFL

The movie would continue to follow him throughout his career, which had its ups and downs. Making it to the NFL is remarkably difficult and staying in the league more than a few years is exceedingly rare. Careers average just a shade over three years , and not all of that time, if any, is generally spent as a starter on a winning team.

“People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie,” he said in 2015, near the end of his career. “They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field. This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not... that has nothing to do with football. It’s something else off the field. That’s why I don’t like that movie.”

It’s not that he didn’t have his successes, of course. The Ravens got more than they might have expected from a late first-round pick. Oher helped the team reach the playoffs in his rookie season. Then in 2013, he won a Super Bowl as a Ravens starter. Three years later, he was back at the Super Bowl, this time for the Carolina Panthers. He played eight years in the NFL, which is a great career for anyone in the league. Ultimately, Oher was released by the Panthers in the summer of 2017 due to his trouble with post-concussion syndrome , which wound up marking the end of his pro career.

Today, Oher is a public speaker and author. His second book, When Your Back’s Against the Wall: Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned through a Lifetime of Adversity , released this month.

Oher reportedly received no money from the movie

The Blind Side grossed more than $309 million at the box office, but for all its success, Oher claims to have been left out of the profits. In August 2023, he filed a court petition stating he unwittingly made Leigh Anne and Sean his conservators—granting them the sole authority to make business deals in his name—in December 2004. At the time, Oher believed he was signing adoption paperwork.

The Tuohys then negotiated a movie contract The Blind Side , covering themselves and their birth children, with 20th Century Fox for $225,000 plus 2.5 percent of all future “defined net proceeds,” according to the petition. Meanwhile, Oher’s signature appears on a separate agreement that grants Fox the rights to his life story without any compensation. In addition to ending the conservatorship, Oher asks in his lawsuit for his share of the profits from a story “that would not have existed without him,” along with damages.

Sean told The Daily Memphian all the family—including Oher—earned money from the movie, amounting to roughly $14,000 each. That payout came from author Michael Lewis who split half his share with them. “We’re devastated,” he said. “It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children.” He added the conservatorship was done to appease the NCAA and that he and Leigh Anne would end the legal arrangement if that’s what Oher wanted.

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Overcoming Adversity: the Inspiring Story of “The Blind Side”

This essay about “The Blind Side” explores the profound narrative of resilience and hope depicted in the film. It into the transformative of Michael Oher, a young man who rises above adversity with the support of a compassionate family. Through the lens of Michael’s experiences, the essay illustrates the power of love, determination, and unwavering belief in oneself. It highlights how even in the face of daunting challenges and skepticism, Michael’s story serves as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the possibility of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Ultimately, “The Blind Side” stands as a celebration of resilience and the universal truth that with compassion and perseverance, individuals can defy expectations and achieve greatness.

How it works

In the vast tapestry of tales that weave through the fabric of human existence, few narratives resonate as deeply as the saga of “The Blind Side.” It is a story that transcends the ordinary, a testament to the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to triumph over adversity and emerge victorious against all odds.

At its heart beats the story of Michael Oher, a soul forged in the crucible of hardship and shaped by the harsh realities of life on the fringes of society.

Born into a world where hope was a scarce commodity and dreams seemed like distant mirages, Michael’s early years were a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. Abandoned by those meant to protect him and left to navigate the treacherous waters of the streets alone, he was a solitary figure in a world that often seemed indifferent to his plight.

But fate, it seemed, had other plans. In a twist of serendipity, Michael crossed paths with Leigh Anne Tuohy, a woman whose heart was as big as her resolve was unyielding. Drawn together by the invisible threads of destiny, their encounter would set into motion a chain of events that would forever alter the course of Michael’s life.

With Leigh Anne’s unwavering support and the boundless love of her family, Michael found himself embraced by a warmth he had never known—a sanctuary amidst the chaos, a refuge from the storm. In their home, he discovered not only shelter and sustenance but also the nurturing embrace of a family who saw in him not a lost soul, but a beacon of untapped potential waiting to be unleashed.

It was within the hallowed halls of the Tuohy household that Michael’s true journey began—a journey of self-discovery, of growth, and of transformation. Encouraged by Leigh Anne’s relentless belief in his abilities, he dared to dream dreams he had long since buried beneath the weight of despair. And as he took to the football field, he discovered within himself a strength and a resilience he never knew he possessed—a testament to the indomitable spirit that burned within him, a fire that refused to be extinguished.

But Michael’s path was not without its challenges. Faced with doubters and detractors at every turn, he grappled with the shadows of his past, the ghosts of his former life threatening to drag him back into the abyss. Yet, through sheer determination and an unwavering faith in himself, he pressed on, refusing to let his past define his future.

“The Blind Side” is more than just a story—it is a symphony of the human spirit, a testament to the power of love, resilience, and the unwavering belief in the potential of every individual to rise above their circumstances and achieve greatness. Through Michael’s journey, we are reminded that no obstacle is insurmountable, no dream too far-fetched, as long as we have the courage to believe in ourselves and the tenacity to pursue our dreams with unwavering determination.

In the end, “The Blind Side” is a celebration of the human spirit—a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, there is always hope, always a chance for redemption. It is a story that speaks to the universal truth that, with love, determination, and the belief in the power of the human spirit, anything is possible.

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The Blind Side

Michael lewis.

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Michael Lewis's The Blind Side . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Blind Side: Introduction

The blind side: plot summary, the blind side: detailed summary & analysis, the blind side: themes, the blind side: quotes, the blind side: characters, the blind side: symbols, the blind side: theme wheel, brief biography of michael lewis.

Historical Context of The Blind Side

Other books related to the blind side.

• Full Title: The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
• When Written: 2005
• Where Written: California
• When Published: September 2, 2006
• Genre: Nonfiction / Sports writing
• Setting: Memphis, Tennessee, followed by Oxford, Mississippi
• Climax: Michael Oher flees his fight with Antonio
• Antagonist: Poverty, racism
• Point of View: Third person omniscient

Extra Credit for The Blind Side

The King of Hollywood. Filmmakers love Michael Lewis’s books—in the last ten years, three of them ( The Blind Side , Moneyball , and The Big Short ) have been made into successful, Academy Award-nominated films.

Nobody’s perfect. The Blind Side won good reviews from critics, but some people claimed that it made a couple of notable errors regarding the sport of football. Football wonks pointed out that Lewis misreported the number of Super Bowls the 49ers won, and the year in which the NFL allowed their players to have free agency.

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The Blind Side: A Transformative Journey of Love and Family

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The Odyssey Begins: Michael Oher's Troubled Past

The Tuophy Family: Nurturing a Future Football Star

Universal themes and emotional impact, challenges and triumphs: the heart of "the blind side", conclusion: lessons learned and lasting impact.

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• Blind Side: Living in a Foster Family - Pros and Cons, Main Problems and Life Difficulties Pages: 3 (882 words)
• An Importance Of Family Ties in The Blind Side Pages: 5 (1290 words)
• Theme of Family in The Blind Side Movie Pages: 3 (629 words)
• Stereotypes, Emotions And Discriminatory Actions in The Blind Side Pages: 6 (1657 words)
• The Devil Effect in Films: 'Legally Blonde' and 'The Blind Side' Pages: 4 (921 words)
• The Blind Side: A Tale of Courage and Transformation Pages: 4 (1087 words)
• Summary of a Book The Blind Side Pages: 6 (1779 words)
• The Blind Side Film Review Pages: 5 (1391 words)
• Leigh Anne Tuohy from “The Blind Side” Pages: 9 (2417 words)
• Stages of Development: a Review of the Movie, the Blind Side Pages: 5 (1442 words)

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The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison Essay

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About the Game

About michael oher, similarities, works cited.

The differences and similarities of the book and movie version of The Blind Side can be understood by looking at how the author – Michael Lewis – and the director attempted to inform and entertain their respective audiences. It can also be explained by the strengths and limitations of the medium that they used. There is a big difference in how a writer can talk about the details of a particular subject matter and how a movie director can fit everything and tell a good story in just two hours of film.

But when simplified even further the movie version differs from the book because the author wanted to show the evolution of how American football is played and conducted using the story of Michael Oher the protagonist as some sort of a case study while the movie version wanted to showcase the extraordinary story of Michael Oher and how his life can be used as a model to inspire others to live life and reach one’s potential even if the odds are stack against that person.

The focus of the book was the evolution of the game. The movie’s focus was on the triumph of the human spirit and understandably so because the movie was marketed as an inspirational movie. It was created to make the audience feel good. This does not mean that the movie completely strayed far from the spirit of the author’s work. It is simply about the need to focus on one story.

The author can tackle a major issue and then have enough space to talk about an example of how the game has totally been transformed by including the inspiring and yet true-to-life story of Michael Oher. On the other hand director, John Lee Hancock cannot afford to totally copy the format of the book and adapt everything to the screen because as mentioned it is impossible given the limitations of the medium used.

The book had a lengthy introduction about a football hero named Lawrence Taylor and why he was a terror in the football field (Lewis, p. 16). The author even claimed that Jerry Sizemore, an NFL professional who played for the Philadelphia Eagles quit because of fear as to what Taylor will do to him during an actual game (Lewis, p. 16).

And this framed the introduction as to why the game has evolved – football has always been known for the grace and athleticism of the quarterback working in perfect unity with the receiver and the rest of the team. But Lewis pointed out that when Taylor arrived at the scene, he changed the way football was played because of the strength, speed, agility, and violence he brings with him.

The game had to evolve not because of Taylor’s prowess but due to his effectiveness to disrupt play, intimidate opponents, and most importantly to win games. He was so successful in fact that football coaches began to scout for athletes that have the same profile, height, body weight, etc. Lewis summed it all up by explaining how a defender should play according to Taylor’s point of view and Taylor said: “I’ll drive my helmet into him, or, if I can, I’ll bring my arm up over my head and try to ax the ‘sonuvabitch’ into two.

So long as the guy is holding the ball, I intend to hurt him … If I hit the right, I’ll hit a nerve and he’ll feel electrocuted, he’ll forget for a few seconds that he’s on a football field” (Lewis, p.17) If not for the word football field at the end of that statement one can be forgiven if he or she thought that the author was talking about martial arts, not the game that America loves.

The brutal language appropriately used to describe the heightened violence in American football could never find its way to the movie because the vision of the director with regards to the target audience and what portion of the material to emphasize in the film version was about the miracle of Michael Oher’s rise from extreme poverty to football stardom.

The goal of the author was not only to tell about the inspiring story of Michael Oher but more importantly to tell about the evolution of the game and how it had become one of the most dangerous games in the planet.

While Lewis wrote a great deal about the offense, defense, Lawrence Taylor, and the business side of football in the introductory portion of the book, the movie version spent less time talking about the NFL and even college football, however the director was able to combine everything and provided the backdrop for the story by showing a documentary film about the importance of a good offensive unit because a quarterback can be vulnerable in his blindside.

The short clip provided a much better way to understand what Lewis tried to explain about the so-called blindside. This is one of the few examples why an audio-visual presentation like a movie is much better than reading a book, but in other aspects, the author was able to talk more about the details of football and why Michael Oher was an extraordinary story in the world of American football.

Lewis saw the life of Michael Oher as an example of the best and worst of college football, U.S. athletics, and football as a game and as a business. So the book was not all about Michael Oher but also about football. The author wrote several chapters about the marketing of football players, coaches, and how the game is currently being played.

He wanted to use the story of Oher to show that a football scholarship is something that can be seen as a blessing and sometimes a tool used by schemers who do not really care about the welfare and the future of the athletes they recruited, for they simply wanted the glory that is associated with it.

In the book, Lewis highlighted the fact that Briarcrest Christian School looked the other way when they knew without a doubt that Michael Oher could not maintain the high academic standards that the school requires.

They decided to ignore this very important aspect of his enrollment because an athletics coach of Briarcrest saw the potential of Oher to dominate the competition (Lewis, p.331). This, of course, an unethical thing to do, a dilemma that the school had to deal with and provided another backdrop to what would happen next to Oher’s life as a football player.

But in the movie version, the ethical problem regarding recruitment was not highlighted, in fact, it can be said that the producer of the movie did not want to get deep into the controversy. What the producer and the director focused on was the struggle that Oher had to face with and deal with as an oversize black student studying in a highly competitive and predominantly white school.

The book also trained the spotlight on how coaches and the staff of some of the most popular college football teams had to employ what can be considered as tactics reserved for the professional leagues. They behaved like pirates in the high seas and treated the recruitment process as if they are on war.

This was also evident in the movie version but it was toned down. The impression of the audience of the selection process was intense but at the same time exhilarating. The movie did not touch on the more controversial aspects of the recruitment process. This is why it is called a feel-good movie.

It has now become clear that the movie version was unable to stay one hundred percent true to the original intent of the writer. Nevertheless, there were many similarities and many times the storyline of the movie and the information that one can come across by reading the book has intersected and most of it has something to do with the extraordinary character of Michael Oher and of course the members of the Tuohy family.

The way these people’s lives were celebrated was obvious in the book and in the movie version. The way the movie portrayed the life of Michael Oher and the way the author wrote about him has the same effect on the reader of the book as well as the audience of the film.

The most important feature of the film and the book was in describing how multiple foster homes and the experience of not having to have stability in life has shaped the worldview of Oher. The book also highlighted the fact that Oher’s talent and even determination would never be enough without the Tuohy family.

As extraordinary as Oher is, his early failures and troubled past could have brought him to the depths of despair where his physical prowess cannot help him. The book and the movie were able to show very clearly that the poverty and gangs related violence found in inner-city Memphis was like a deathtrap that no orphan can ever conquer.

It must be expected that the movie version can only focus on a small part of the book. The producer and director of the movie had to contend with the limitations of film. The author intended to talk about the evolution of the game, both the good and the bad effects, but the movie was content to talk about the triumph of Oher and the Tuohy family. Nevertheless, there were similarities such as the moving story of how Oher was able to overcome against great odds.

Lewis, Michael. The Blind Side (Movie Tie-In Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009.

The Blind Side . Dir. John Lee Hancock. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron and Kathy Bates. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2009. Film.

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• "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair Literature Analysis
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• Characters' Relationship in ”The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
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IvyPanda. (2020, April 13). The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/

"The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison." IvyPanda , 13 Apr. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison'. 13 April.

IvyPanda . 2020. "The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison." April 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison." April 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison." April 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/.

The Blind Side

By michael lewis, the blind side essay questions.

What is the significance of the book's title?

The title of the book refers to a moment of vulnerability experienced by the quarterback right before they throw the ball. Their field of vision is briefly obscured, which leaves them open to being sacked by an opposing player. To compensate for this, coaches like Bill Walsh began to use players in the left tackle position to counter aggressive linebackers. The title indicates why the game evolved and how it opened the door for a player with Michael's specific set of skills.

How is the theme of racism discussed in the book?

The theme of racism appears in the book within the context of Michael's life and the public perception of the Tuohy family. The chapters detailing Michael's harrowing childhood and everyday struggles for food and shelter effectively show the structural inequality and unofficial segregation in Memphis. Relatedly, Leigh Anne is asked many offensive questions about Michael (and her motivations for taking him in) by close friends and family. These disturbing moments reveal how deeply embedded casual racism is in the world portrayed by the book.

How is the college football recruitment process portrayed in the book?

The culture around college football recruitment comes off poorly in the book. It shows how coaches intensely pursue players from a young age, attempting to draw them in with whatever methods prove most effective, but it does not support them properly when they arrive at school. Without stating it outright, Lewis frames the process as one that takes advantage of young athletes, using them to bolster their school's performance but not ultimately benefitting them.

How does Lewis frame the audience view of left tackles?

Lewis shows how left tackles like John Ayers and Jonathan Ogden go overlooked, despite their incredible feats of athleticism. While Lewis zeroes in on the important moments of their careers, like Ayers stopping Taylor and Ogden nearly keeping pace with a quarterback, he is quick to note that these are brief instances no one else is taking note of. In this way, he frames them as unsung heroes, as the audience barely registers them, despite their importance to the game.

What does Lewis seem to say ultimately protects Michael from the dangers of the football world?

Lewis suggests that the love and support the Tuohys show Michael plays a huge role in shielding Michael from the potential pitfalls of the world of sports. While his ability is what draws the attention of coaches and scouts, the Tuohys keep him grounded. Lewis uses the stories of other successful college athletes to show how that kind of success does not always lead to happy outcomes, as many players can easily end up returning to poverty without guidance, as the system does not have their best interests in mind. Michael is guarded against this by the Tuohys' persistent focus on making sure he is not just performing on the field but also feels emotionally secure and stable in new contexts.

The Blind Side Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Blind Side is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The Blind Side

The Blind Side study guide contains a biography of Michael Lewis, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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The Blind Side: Analysis of Michael Oher's Development Through Psychological Theories

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The character of michael oher, psychological analysis of the character, jean piaget’s theory of cognitive development, erik erickson’s identity theory, lawrence kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning, baumrind’s theory.

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice-Hall.
• Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
• Buss, D. M. (2019). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Psychology Press.
• Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2016). Human development: A life-span view. Cengage Learning.
• Piaget, J. (1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 15(1), 1-12.
• Santrock, J. W. (2016). Life-span development. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

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The Blind Side

96 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

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Summary and Study Guide

The Blind Side tells the intersecting stories of Michael Oher (who, after the book’s timeline, went on to have a long career as an NFL left tackle) and how the NFL’s passing game evolved. Folded into these two stories is that of Tom Lemming , who became the first person to evaluate high school football players both independently and on a national scale. His player evaluations impacted college recruiting, shifting it from a regional to a national focus. This change enabled an under-the-radar player like Oher, who played for a small Evangelical Christian high school, to be noticed. 

Lewis begins the book by describing the 1985 play that ended the career of Washing Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann: New York Giants defender Lawrence Taylor sacked Theismann, breaking his leg in two places. Theismann’s regular left tackle was on the sidelines with an injury for that game, and the result was costly both for Theismann and the Redskins.

The fast, aggressive play of Taylor, and defensive players who followed in his footsteps, transformed passing strategy and created the need for a left tackle with a unique physique and skill set. It took several years for talent evaluators to define these qualities and recognize the importance of left tackles, but by the 2000s, when Oher came on the scene, their value was well understood. Oher, in turn, became one of the most sought-after draft prospects.

Lewis weaves back and forth through time to tell Michael’s story. Lewis introduces Michael when he is 15 years old and temporarily staying with Tony (“Big Tony”) Henderson. Like Michael, Big Tony grew up in Hurt Village, one of Memphis, Tennessee’s most notorious housing projects. To fulfill his mother’s last wish, Big Tony takes his son to a Christian Evangelical school, Briarcrest, and brings Michael with him. Michael’s athletic abilities impress the school’s coaches. He becomes a student at the school, where he meets Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy , wealthy white Evangelical Christians whose children also attend Briarcrest. Leigh Anne grows close with Michael, and Michael moves in with the Tuohys. Michael slowly assimilates into the school environment, making friends and growing especially close the Tuohys’ children, Collins and Sean Junior. The Tuohys hire a tutor for Michael to ensure he maintains the grades he needs to play sports, and Leigh Anne educates him in the ways of white, upper-class Memphis.

After football scout Lemming brings Michael to national attention, Michael is heavily recruited by almost all of the top college programs. Michael chooses to play at the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”), the Tuohys’ alma mater. The NCAA receives a complaint that the Tuohys compensated Michael with gifts to convince him to play at Old Miss and opens an investigation into the Tuohys’ motives. Michael is eventually cleared to play at the school, and the Tuohys ensure he will meet NCAA academic eligibility requirements. Michael plays as a freshman, which raises his profile with NFL recruiters. Though the Ole Miss team he plays on is not successful, Michael’s individual play impresses, and he receives accolades and awards.

At the end of a successful season for Michael, a teammate confronts him, making a lewd reference to Leigh Anne and her daughter, Collins, and Michael beats him up. When he realizes he accidentally injured a young child in the vicinity, he flees the scene. Lewis shifts focus to Michael’s mother, showing how she fell victim to a cycle of poverty and drugs. Shortly before Michael turned eight, Children’s Services removed him from her care and placed him in a foster home. He ran away three times, eventually ending up in a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. After he ran away from the hospital, authorities gave up looking for him. For the next five years, he was in and out of school for long stretches, though school authorities continued to pass him from grade to grade. His family was homeless for a time, and Michael camped out in the homes of a string of friends, including Big Tony. Lewis then returns to the moment where The Blind Side begins: with Michael arriving at Briarcrest. Lewis discusses Michael’s early challenges at the school, relating to the students and adapting to the school culture.

The final chapter returns to the day Michael ran away from the scene where he got in a fight with a teammate. Sean communicates with him by text while consulting with his various contacts at Ole Miss and devising a plan to keep the story low profile. Michael returns, and the situation is resolved with no lasting impact on Michael’s character or player profile. Lewis notes that Michael’s support network helped to ensure that the incident remained under the radar.

At the end of the book, applications from inner-city high school athletes flood Briarcrest, but the school is ambivalent about accepting students who are not academically prepared for the school’s curriculum. Sean offers to pay for tutoring, and Leigh Anne wants to start a foundation to help other athletes. Michael plays well in college, continuing to draw honors and attention. 

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Former NFL star Michael Oher, inspiration for "The Blind Side," claims Tuohy family never adopted him

By Khristopher J. Brooks

Edited By Aimee Picchi , Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: August 15, 2023 / 12:06 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Michael Oher, the former NFL offensive lineman and inspiration for the 2009 box office success "The Blind Side,"  told a Tennessee judge that contrary to the film version of his life he was never adopted by the Tuohy family , and alleged that the family earned millions from the story.

Oher, 37, has petitioned a Shelby County judge to revoke the conservatorship from the Tuohys, arguing that he's old enough to handle his own business affairs. The Tuohys "have falsely and publicly represented themselves as the adoptive parents of Michael," the petition claims. 

In "The Blind Side," Leigh Anne Tuohy was portrayed by Sandra Bullock, while Sean Tuohy was played by Tim McGraw.

"Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conversators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control," the petition alleges.

Sean Tuohy said Tuesday that he learned about Oher's allegations when his friend sent him an article about it. The conservatorship in question, Tuohy said, had nothing to do with the movie but was meant to help Oher as he got recruited to play college football.

"They said the only way Michael could go to Ole Miss was if he was actually part of the family," Tuohy said, adding that because Oher was 18 at the time, the conservatorship was a way to make that happen legally since he was too old to be legally adopted. "...We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn't adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court."

If Oher wants to end the conservatorship now, Tuohy said that he would "of course" be willing to end it. He also said that there has been a growing distance between Oher and the family over the past year and a half.

Legally blind-sided?

Oher claimed in court documents that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy convinced him to sign conservatorship documents in 2004 by falsely telling him that the legal action was "for all intents and purposes, an adoption." Court documents state that Oher signed the documents at 18 after being a foster child for years.

The conservatorship has allowed the Tuhoys to financially benefit from Oher's image and likeness, he alleges in the petition, and "reap millions of dollars" off of the Oscar-nominated movie about Oher, while he "received nothing." 

Steve Farese, a lawyer for the Tuohys, told the Associated Press that they will file an answer to the allegations in court but he declined to comment further. He was among three attorneys who served on behalf of the Tuohys on Monday.

Oher was the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 draft out of the University of Mississippi. He played five seasons for the Baltimore Ravens then another eight NFL seasons, including 2014, when he started 11 games for the Tennessee Titans. Oher finished his career after two years with the Carolina Panthers.

Oher's 14-page petition details his entering the foster care system at 11. During high school, Oher was homeless but lived with friends and classmates including Sean Tuohy, Jr. — the son of Sean and Leigh Anne. 

"Almost immediately after Michael moved in, the Tuohys presented him with what he understood to be legal papers that were a necessary step in the adoption process," the petition alleges. "Michael trusted the Tuohys and signed where they told him to sign."

The petition also claims that Oher didn't truly know what he had signed.

"Michael was falsely advised by the Tuohys that because he was over the age of eighteen, that the legal action to adopt Michael would have to be called 'conservatorship' but it was, for all intents and purposes, an adoption," the petition claims.

Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.

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‘Blind Side’ inspiration Michael Oher says Tuohy family lied about adopting him

Ex-nfl star says sean and leigh anne tuohy instead got him to sign papers to make them conservators, article bookmarked.

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Former NFL star Michael Oher has claimed in a lawsuit that the adoption story behind The Blind Side movie was a lie and that the Tuohy family made millions from his name.

A petition filed in probate court in Shelby County, Tennessee , alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, a white couple who brought 18-year-old Oher into their home as a high school student, never actually adopted him.

Instead, lawyers for the athlete state that three months after Oher turned 18 in 2004 they got him to sign a document which made them his conservators and which allowed them to make business deals in his name.

Court papers state that the couple used their position as conservators to agree to a deal that saw them and their two biological children paid for the Oscar-winning movie, which starred Sandra Bullock and made more than $300m.

Oher claims in the petition that he made nothing for the inspirational story “that would not have existed without him” and that the family have continued to call him their adopted son to promote their foundation and Ms Tuohy’s career as an author and motivational speaker, reported ESPN.

“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which Co-Conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael Oher,” court documents state.

“Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the Conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”

Oher has asked the court to end the conservatorship and to ban them from using his name and likeness. He also wants a full accounting of the money the family made using his name and to be paid a fair share of the profits. He is also seeking an unspecified amount of punitive and compensatory damages.

“Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the petition added.

“All monies made in said manner should in all conscience and equity be disgorged and paid over to the said ward, Michael Oher.”

The lawsuit states that the Tuohys and their two birth children were each paid $225,000, plus 2.5% per cent of the film’s “defined net proceeds” for the movie.

Oher’s lawyers say that they found out he was not legally adopted in February and that he has been left devastated by the discovery.

“Mike didn’t grow up with a stable family life,” said attorney J Gerard Stranch IV.

“When the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life. Discovering that he wasn’t actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply.”

But Sean Tuohy later told the Daily Memphian that Oher’s claims have “devastated” the family and defended not adopting him.

“We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court,” he said.

And he added: “We didn’t make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis, the [author of the book on which the movie was based] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each.”

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