Last weeks reading left off with Michael heading to Ole Miss to play football. This week's reading starts off with Coach O, the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels, informing his football team that their whole team was now being built of Michael Oher. The current quarterback and left tackle, Bobby Harris and Tre Stallings, were impressed by Michael's playing talent, and were scared that Michael would replace them. It turned out to be quite the opposite, Michael sat on the bench for eighty percent of his freshman year. The Rebels lost against their biggest rivals, Mississippi State, which led Coach O to firing his offensive coach and making a new offensive line. It wasn't until his sophomore year, that Michael began playing in games; Michael ended up starting in every game and became and was named to the All-SEC first team. Michael was keeping up with school, with help from Miss Sue, and was dominating on the football field. One night, one of Michael's teammates, Antonia Turner, told Michael that he couldn't wait to sleep with Collins and then Leigh Anne after. Michael was furious and chased Antonio to the tutor center, where he jumped on top of him and beat him up. Michael hadn't noticed, but as he jumped on Antonio, a little white boy was crushed too. Michael ran and wasn't hear from for two days. Antonio and the boy pressed charges against Michael, causing the police to get involved and search for Michael. Leigh Anne called the State of Tennessee Child Services to see if Michael's social worker could help them out. The social worker they talked to said that the state stopped looking for Michael at age seven, because he continually ran away for every foster home he was in. Michael was taken away from his mother at the age of seven. He stayed with his brother Carlos in a foster home and when times got bad, the two brothers would run back to their mom. The cycle continued for over three years, until Dee Dee, their mother, moved the boys to Hurt Village. Michael didn't return to school and played video games and basketball all day. Big Tony tried to get Michael on a basketball team, but Michael was afraid to push the other kids and left in tears. His best friend, Craig, stood by Michael and supported his dream of being the next Michael Jordan. After two days, Michael called Sean and said he was turning himself in to the campus police; Michael went to jail and continued with his everyday life after. The book ends with Michael saying that he is ready to beat Dwight Freeney, the colts pass rushing defense player, and Freeney saying that he will be waiting for Michael. Michael Oher was named a First Team All-American and was the Baltimore Raven's first pick in the 2009 draft. Review: The final chapters in the book really tied up all the loose ends. I really enjoyed how the author spent the last chapter talking about Michael's biological family and revealing the details of Michael's life in foster care. It is scary to think that the state just gave up looking for him and that he managed to escape from every foster home he lived in. Running back to his mom showed Michael's love and commitment to his family. Michael Lewis did an excellent job of describing Hurt Village and the gang violence that occurred. I didn't know that Michael went to jail and the whole fight scene was very intriguing. Running away shows that even though the Tuohy's have changed Michael in a positive way, his old instincts will always follow him. My only disappointment is that the final sentence was from Dwight Freeney addressing Michael's wish to play him," You tell Michael Oher I'll be waiting for him". This sentence is meaningless and in my opinion the author should have put in an inspirational quote from Leigh Anne or Michael. Overall, the final chapters of the book were very insightful to Michael's childhood and show his true character- a talented boy in a lost world.
This is the movie trailer
Focus Question: How to the characters in the book compare to the characters in the movie?
The characters in the movie do an excellent job of portraying the real life characters in the book.The book The Blind Side was created into a major motion picture that received two Academy Award nominations, of which Sandra Bullock won best actress for her performance in the blind side. Sandra Bullock's acting is amazing and you can feel the mother son connection. The movie captures the struggles that Michael had and Quinton nails Michael's appearance and character perfectly. SJ is younger in the movie than he was in real life and the actor does not look like SJ at all. Lilly Collins plays Collins and they look similar. Though the siblings don't exactly resemble each other, they act like real siblings during the movie.
The final chapters in the book really tied up all the loose ends. I really enjoyed how the author spent the last chapter talking about Michael's biological family and revealing the details of Michael's life in foster care. It is scary to think that the state just gave up looking for him and that he managed to escape from every foster home he lived in. Running back to his mom showed Michael's love and commitment to his family. Michael Lewis did an excellent job of describing Hurt Village and the gang violence that occurred. I didn't know that Michael went to jail and the whole fight scene was very intriguing. Running away shows that even though the Tuohy's have changed Michael in a positive way, his old instincts will always follow him. My only disappointment is that the final sentence was from Dwight Freeney addressing Michael's wish to play him," You tell Michael Oher I'll be waiting for him". This sentence is meaningless and in my opinion the author should have put in an inspirational quote from Leigh Anne or Michael. Overall, the final chapters of the book were very insightful to Michael's childhood and show his true character- a talented boy in a lost world.
