The Blind Side can be summed up in three words: determination, hope, and courage. In the nonfiction book The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, the protagonist undergoes these feelings, and as readers, we see him rise from the bottom to the top. Michael Oher is a poor black teenager, who does not know his father or his birthday. His mother is addicted to crack cocaine, and he cannot read or write. Michael’s whole life changes after a rich, white, and strongly religious family plucks him from the streets. Two concepts alter Michael’s world forever: the love that the family has and the exhilarating game of football. If you are looking for inspiration, you should read The Blind Side because of its dynamic characters and uplifting storyline.
The dynamic
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After he enrolled to attend Briarcrest Christian School, Michael faced a great deal of racism as Briarcrest was mainly white, religious students. His sports coaches observed, “The minute he walked onto the court for their first game, the crowd was on him. They called him names. They called him names that neither he nor his coach cared to repeat. Harrington wasn’t shocked by more subtle forms of racism away from the basketball court, but it had been a long time since he’d seen the overt version of it” (Lewis 85). Instead of getting angry and upset by malicious and rude comments, Michael ignored them. He knew that by retaliating he could be suspended from sports: he did not want that. Michael’s tolerance of harsh commentary represented his strong-will as a person, and it also showed that he was not going to let some snotty, racist, and rich white kids get in the way of his dreams to be a football player. By the end of the book, Michael had made a 180. He was successful and well-off: a complete change from the start. Lewis wrote, “But Michael Oher already had collapsed into a generally agreed upon fact; he was a success. The world that had once taken no notice of Michael Oher was now so invested in him that it couldn’t afford to see him fail” (Lewis 317). At this point, it is clear that Michael got past his bullies and humble beginning. The Blind Side should be added to