Blind side: living in a foster family - pros and cons, main problems and life difficulties

Micheal “ Big Mike” Oher, a black homeless teenager, is one of thirteen kids to a crack-addicted mother. Micheal starts the movie as a hopeless kid who hasn’t had a permanent home or school for his entire life.

Leigh Anne Tuohy, a rich white woman, and her family take Micheal in after they see him walking in a mear shirt and t-shirt in the freezing Mississippi night. The Tuohy’s later become his legal guardian, and Micheal has just as big of an impact on their life as they do on his.

Micheal, using his immense size and skill, and some help from the Tuohy’s, becomes a star offensive lineman for his school’s football team and has nearly every college coach in the country trying to recruit him. However, Micheal runs into issues with his illegibility, both for his grades and NCEA investigations on the influence the Tuohy’s give him to attend Ole Miss, the school they support and attended.

The character I especially liked in this movie was Leigh Anne Touhy. Leigh Anne is a stay at home mum in the extremely wealthy Touhy family and is a very generous and caring lady. She is the main one responsible for turning the life of Micheal Oher around. She takes him off the street, feeds him, clothes him and even lets him sleep in their home. Whilst Ligh Anne never directly states why she is so compelled to help Micheal, she, on more than one occasion expresses she is. I believe Leigh Anne’s extreme generosity towards Micheal, who has such a traumatic past, is one of the main reasons she is one of my favorite characters in the movie. She seems to be able to connect with Micheal, who is quiet, lonely and reluctant to express much emotion at all. When Micheal is making his college decisions, Leigh Anne provides comfort and help during the stressful time, reassuring Micheal it is his decision around what university he attends. Leigh Anne understands him on a level that his coaches, teammates and rest of family do not. An example of this is when Micheal is at his first training, and he is playing terribly and can not hold a single block. The coach yells at Micheal repetitively, which does nothing but discourage Micheal. Then, in the middle of training, Leigh Anne talks to Micheal and makes the analogy that he needs to treat his quarterback like how he treats his family, protecting it at all costs. After this, Micheal becomes and excellence blocker, and “ pancake” blocks defensive ends ala l training. Leigh Anne Tuohy has certain characteristics that remind me of Michelle Obama. They both encourage young people of color to dream big and help them attain better circumstances. Michelle helps out much with black poverty and empowers those of color to dream big. This is similar to Leigh Anne, as she took a young Micheal off the streets, turned his life around, and told him he could be whatever he wanted. They are both strong, altruistic women who make drastic change.

I believe Micheals’s mother is the strongest portrayed character in this movie. She is a full-blown crack-cocaine addict, who lives alone in a state home in a very poor section of Memphis. She only appears in a single scene in the movie, but I think it is the most powerful one in the whole film. Leigh Anne visits Micheals’s mother’s home as she needs permission from her to become Micheals legal guardian, as well as Micheals’s details from his mother. Leigh Anne arrives in the home, which is very dark and covered in mess, including crack pipes. When Leigh Anne asks her about Micheal, she explains how she has not seen him since before he was five, as the government took him away for her, because her home was an unsafe environment. Micheal’s dad left his mother the day he was born. She seems very uneasy whilst Leigh Anne is in her home, most likely because of the state of her and her house. She explains how she has over thirteen kids, with a number of fathers she does not even know. The part that really shows the true strong portrayal of this character is when Leigh Anne asks her for Micheal’s last name. She pauses for a second before giving an answer, then after a few moments breaks down crying. When Leigh Anne asks what’s wrong, she explains, in an embarrassed, almost distraught manner tells her how she gave him the wrong name by accident and Micheals last name is actually Williams and says “ I can’t even remember the boy’s father names” and breaks down crying again. This scene had a very strong impact on me because the actress portrays this character in such a harsh light and yet I can not help but feel some compassion for her. Society convinces young teens to view drug addicts as failures and the type of person you never want to become. For example, in health class this year, we watch videos about meth addicts and the life they lead and leant about the devastating effects of being addicted to drugs. However, the truth is that these are real people who have simply fallen on hard times. It could be anyone’s mother that this happens to.