How Michael Oher changes throughout The Blind Side

 The main character of The Blind Side, Michael Oher, rapidly develops over the course of the text. First, he goes from being an impoverished resident with no family of the Memphis ghetto to feeling "...like part of a family. In the other houses I didn't feel like part of the family" (Lewis 150). Michael expresses this feeling after being taken in by the Touhy family, who feel that it is the right thing to take him in after they see him wandering aimlessly around the town after he leaves his school.

 Another way Michael  develops over the text is his increase in intelligence. When he enters Briarcrest, the school he attends throughout the book, "... the grade point average the boy would bring with him to Briarcrest began with a zero: 0.6" (Lewis 53). By the time he graduates, he has a 2.56 GPA. This change happens  because the Touhy's provide Michael with a private tutor to help him understand what he is learning in school. This also happens as Michael learns how to learn in a classroom.

The final way Michael develops is  socially. Before attending being taken in by the Touhy's, Michael is afraid to talk with strangers and people he doesn't know very well. Being with the Touhy's and attending Briarcrest makes him better with other people and Michael soon becomes a very friendly person.