Creative Writing: Cole's Traits

In Touching Spirit Bear Cole says, “In death there was no control, no anger, no one to blame, no choices, no nothing.” Cole kept showing that he wanted to live and change, even after the mauling. In addition, Cole shows many more acts of survival, in order to survive.

In the beginning of the story, Cole was defiant and reckless. This showed when he severely hurt Peter because he had ratted him out. Cole was not thinking of the outcome when he did this. It also was showed when Cole tried to escape the island as well as when attacking the spirit bear. Cole never thought that he wouldn’t make it off the island from high tide or that the spirit bear would fight back so fiercely. Cole had said to the spirit bear “Keep staring, I’ll kill you.” Doing this he angry and wouldn’t stand down, but rather protected his reputation even with no one around to see what he was doing. Cole showed that he was inhumane, never thought about the consequences, and reused to obey others.

Cole does not seem to have any control of the unforgettable emotion, anger. “Edwin told me once that anger was a memory never forgotten. He’s right” (Page 130). The main cause of his anger is his own angry and alcoholic

To start with, Cole’s actions throughout the book majorly affected how he turns out at the end of the book. In this part of the book, Cole had burnt down his small hut and had tried to escape the island. After he failed, the Spirit Bear came showed up and Cole got angry and went to attack the bear. “When Cole’s advance brought him within ten feet of the Spirit Bear, he made his move. He flung the spear with all his strength, fully intending to kill. A blur of white motion deflected the shaft down into the grass as the bear lunged” (65). A few pages later when Cole is laying down on the ground after the bear attack the book says, “Cole grunted angrily-he didn’t want to die yet. Yes, someday that would be part of his circle. Someday he would lie in his own waste and be eaten by maggots. But not now!” (85). These quotes show how Cole’s actions affect him in the future because the action taught Cole that he was

In the book, Cole has started to show signs of his changing, why stop it? In the text, it states, “Are you okay?” In this quote, Cole has witness a nest of baby sparrows fall from a tree struck by lightning, earlier he was irritated and he wanted to smack that nest off the tree. All his life, he has shown hate, anger, disrespect, disobedience, brutality, extreme hubris, and violence, because of his environment with his abusive father, and has been like this ever since. However, this quote changes everything, because of one thing. He shows a redeeming quality that he has never experienced before, or has ever shown. He shows compassion. It’s only right that we send him right back, he could learn so

One of his strengths is that he is strong and he just loves to get in trouble. He hates to be called champ. Cole has a very strong will. He has had some experience with fighting, he fought a lot of kids in school, he recently just beat up a kid named Petter. Cole hates his parents and is afraid of his father. Apparently his father beats him when he does something wrong, or gets in trouble. So far we don't know all Coles weaknesses but he hates being touched, called names, and hates getting told on. On page 15 of Spirit Bear it says why cole doesn't want to be called champ, it says, “”quit calling me champ,” cole mumbled “that's not my

It is true that Cole Matthews has caused trouble and issues his whole life, but it is not Cole’s fault that he is the way he is. Cole does what he does because of his parents who never cared for him. His Dad beat him and his Mom just watched which caused Cole to be a juvenile delinquent. Cole Matthews accused parents, “My parents don’t have the time of day for me. I’m just in their

Anger is a major theme for both Cole, in Touching Spirit Bear, and Logan, in The Last

I believe that at the end of chapter 1 in the book we are meant to feel that Cole is a very mean person. Also that he thinks he is better than everyone and he is superior, the evidence to show this is on page 4 when it states “Still standing on the dock in front of everyone, Cole smirked as he undressed.” This piece of evidence shows that cole thinks he is better than the people because he is smirking as he undresses in front of them. Another piece of evidence to show that cole thinks he is better than everyone is on page 5 and it says “Nothing could be farther from the truth. To cole this was another big game.” This clearly is showing that cole thinks he is better than everyone he takes everything as a game he doesn’t really realize what is

His dad is a bull-headed drinker. ,according to the text on page 9. (”Cole has been sent to multiple anger therapy sessions,a psychologist,detention centers, and two residential treatment center.”)

In the beginning of the novel, Cole Mathews behaves cruelly when he becomes emotional. For example, when the narrative begins, we learn that he is in serious trouble for beating a kid named Peter Driscal up, because Peter divulged the truth about the boy robbing a hardware store. Later on, our main character is sitting in a detention cell as a consequence of his actions and becomes exasperated over not getting what he wants. Hence, he throws an outburst of violence. “[Cole’s] rage ignited. [He] jumped to his feet and stormed across the cell. He tipped over his metal-framed bed and started hitting the wall harder and harder. Soon blood from his scraped knuckles smeared the concrete.” (Mikaelsen 25). During those episodes, the protagonist and oddly enough the antagonist becomes very displeased, but also very scared and sad.

The first and main time Cole acts up in this story is when he beats up Peter Driscal for telling on him that he broke into a hardware store. He beat up Peter so badly that he had speech slur ever since. That was the worst time he had acted up, but there were many other times. Second, whenever Garvey is trying to teach him a lesson with ingredients for a cake, and Cole got so mad and swiped his arm across the table knocking off all of the ingredients to the floor. Cole usually acts up when he knows he’s wrong, when he is afraid, or when something isn’t afraid of him. He is afraid of the Spirit Bear, so he wants to kill it so he doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. In the book it says “He flung the spear with all his strength, fully intending to kill” (Mikaelsen 77). Those are some examples of how Cole gets violent at the start of the book.

No goal was ever met without hardwork - Unknown In his novel , Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen shows how a significant event can change someone's life and make them appreciate the little beauties in life. This is demonstrated after Cole, the protagonist is mauled by a bear. After he is mauled he lies there and begins to value life, understands there is good, even in negative situations, and begins to work to change his perspective on life. When cole is snitched on by a kid named Peter Driscal, Cole gets revenge by furiously beating peter, Peter suffers from head injuries and Peter can now not speak without stuttering or slurring.

Cole is 15 years old and he is a boy. In his past there is a lot of bad things. His parents drink a lot. His parents beat him up. Mostly his dad does and his mom just watches.

When Cole had first reached island, Edwin had given advice to Cole about how to live on the island, “Nobody’s going to babysit you here. If you eat you’ll live. If not, you’ll die. This land can provide for you or kill you. Winters are long. Cut plenty of wood or you’ll freeze. Keep things dry, because wet kills. This island is covered with Devil’s Club. Don’t grab it or hundreds of tiny thistles will infect your hands and make them swell up like sausages. The stream over there is where you get fresh water,” (17). By giving this advice, it is clear that Edwin wants Cole to be safe on the island. Edwin had even built a shelter for Cole on the island. Edwin had left Drake, his homeland, and came to Minneapolis just to attend Cole’s Circle Justice meetings, which shows his determination to help Cole. At a Circle Justice meeting, after Cole had attempted to kill the Spirit bear, Edwin had proved how Cole had changed through an effective demonstration that changed everyone’s perspective on Cole and his identity, “People change two ways- with slow persistence pressure, or with a single and sudden traumatic experience. That’s why people often change so much when they have a near death experience. I believe something significant happened to Cole on the island,” (128). By manifesting this demonstration, it was clear that Edwin believed in Cole and he believed Cole had really changed. Later, when Cole had been sent back to the island as a second chance, Edwin had provided Cole with many techniques in which he would relieve his anger, such, dipping into the pond in the morning and carrying the ancestor rock, “Happiness, like anger, is also a habit. You learn to be happy one day at a time. But habits change hard. This pond will help you,” (146). Edwin had also explained to Cole how he couldn’t get rid of anger, which made Cole stop doubting himself, “People send lifetimes breaking their stick to get rid of